Susanna Reid has admitted her “heart aches” at the thought of her son leaving home for university this weekend.
The Good Morning Britain presenter opened up about the emotions that many other parents are currently facing, as she prepares to wave her eldest child Sam off to begin the next stage of his life.
Writing in her MailOnline column, Susanna emotionally told of how it feels like a “reordering of her entire world” as she revealed she had been “in denial” about it until waking up on Monday morning in a panic.
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Susanna Reid
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She wrote: “It’s true I won’t miss nagging my son about homework and the mess in his room, but it’s hard to imagine the house without his calm presence and his ability to defuse any tension with a hug.
“I tell myself this is just the next step. For my son, it’s a natural move towards freedom, but for me it’s a reordering of my entire world and, honestly, my heart aches.”
She added: “I’m dreading the moment when I get back from dropping him off at university for the first time, and I have to set one less place at the dinner table.”
Susanna also lamented how social distancing rules will also make the experience of dropping him off at university different to usual, as she won’t be allowed to enter his accommodation.
“Perhaps he’ll be secretly relieved his mum isn’t fussing in the background, but I’m disappointed I won’t see where he’s living,” she said, adding that she worries about how social distancing will affect her son’s university experience.
Susanna has three sons, 18-year-old Sam, 16-year-old Finn and Jack, 15, with ex-partner Dominic Cotton.
The presenter admitted she is coming to terms with the fact that she will have to do this twice more in the coming years, as her other two sons leave home.
“I have to face the fact that what worries me most is my rapidly emptying nest,” Susanna said.
“With just two years in total between my three boys, this is the start of a staggered period of saying goodbye.”
21 Times Susanna Reid's Face Revealed The True Reality Of Working With Piers Morgan
(01 of22)
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1. The ‘WTF is he on about now?’(02 of22)
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2. The ‘I wonder if Holly Willoughby has to put up with this amount of crap from Phillip Schofield’(03 of22)
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3. The ‘I never had to deal with this from Bill Turnbull’(04 of22)
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4. The ‘haha, totally just got one up on him’(05 of22)
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5. The ’20 years in the biz - how did it all come to this?′(06 of22)
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6. The ‘my eyes couldn’t roll any more if they tried’(07 of22)
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7. The ‘literally out of fucks to give’(08 of22)
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8. The ‘get my agent on the phone, I can’t do this anymore’(09 of22)
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9. The ‘perhaps if I pretend to look really, really, really happy, people won’t know how much I’m crying inside’(10 of22)
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10. The ‘I’m going to be a national hero for this’(11 of22)
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11. The ‘he’s just farted and it stinks’(12 of22)
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12. The ‘rather you than me, love’(13 of22)
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13. The ‘yep, he’s definitely talking bollocks again’(14 of22)
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14. The ‘I would rather be anywhere else on God’s green earth than on this couch right now’(15 of22)
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15. The ‘oh lord, he’s talking about politics again’(16 of22)
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16. The ‘oh would you just fuck off’(17 of22)
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17. The ‘touch me with that and I will set my lawyers on you quicker than you can say Donald Trump’(18 of22)
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18. The ‘maybe if I’m nice to him it won’t seem as bad’(19 of22)
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19. The ‘I’m going to pretend I’m totally cool with him touching my freshly-washed hair’(20 of22)
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20. The ‘you dare and I will rip you apart limb by limb’(21 of22)
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21. The ‘I wish Ben Shephard was on today’(22 of22)