Gary Barlow has opened up on the pain of losing his daughter.
The former Take That singer and his wife Dawn lost Poppy when she was stillborn at full term days before he was due to perform at the closing ceremony of the London Olympics.
In an extract of his upcoming autobiography, A Better Me, serialised in The Sun, Barlow discussed the “incomprehensible” emotional toll of saying goodbye to his daughter on August 4 2012.
He wrote: “When she was born it was like a light came into the room. It was lovely, it was gorgeous, we both took turns cuddling her, and we took pictures. It was one of the best hours of my life I’ve ever experienced in the midst of the hardest time of my life. It was very powerful, that hour was.
“Poppy looked perfect and for an hour she was alive to us. She’s in your arms, this beautiful little daughter of ours, a sister to our three other children.
“Then the reality comes rushing into the room and all the air leaves your lungs. It felt like someone had a hand held tight at my throat. The nurses start hovering and they want to take her away. What we experienced and saw over those 24 hours, no-one should have to see or have to go through.”
Barlow married Dawn in 2000 and the couple have three other children; Daniel, Emily and Daisy.
In January, Barlow celebrated their 18th wedding anniversary with a post on Instagram.
He shared a picture of himself and Dawn together from more than 20 years ago and wrote: “Stronger than we’ve ever been. Here’s to the rest of our lives.”