Jeremy Kyle has said his late parents can now “finally rest in peace” after a commemorative bench in their memory was moved to a more prominent position on Lyme Regis seafront. The former ITV presenter, 61, shared a photo of himself sitting on the bench, which now stands in front of the Royal Pavilion rather than outside the public toilets and refuse bins.
Bench relocated after years of upset
In a post on Instagram on Saturday, Kyle wrote: “Finally my late parents can rest in peace as their cheap looking but actually quite expensive commemorative bench on Lyme Regis seafront now sits proudly in front of the Royal Pavilion rather than outside the public toilets and refuse bins as before.”
The Talk presenter’s followers responded with messages of support. One wrote: “Glad they can be fully memorialised now. Sorry for your loss Jezza god I miss you on my TV,” while a second added: “Thinking of you Jez x.”
Parents’ legacy and personal loss
Kyle’s mother, Nanette, died in 2017 at the age of 85 after a long battle with dementia. His father, Patrick, who worked as an accountant and personal secretary to the Queen Mother for more than 40 years, died in 2021. Shortly after his father’s death, Kyle described him as his “hero” and credited him with encouraging his return to public life after The Jeremy Kyle show was cancelled.
“I lost my dad six weeks ago and he was my hero. One of the reasons that I’ve come back now is that he said to me, ‘go back to work’,” he said at the time. “Life is full of problems. There’s always a solution, it’s just the bigger the problem, the longer that it takes to find an answer. But if you get your head down, you’ll get there.”
Parents ‘were everything to me’
Kyle previously told The Independent that his parents “were everything to me”. He added: “They sacrificed so much for my education and together they showed me each and every day what it takes to be a proper, respectful and decent human being.”
He also recalled his own birth: “I was actually born in the front bedroom while my dad sat on the wall outside, feeling sick. Twenty minutes after my mother gave birth, she went downstairs and made my old man a cup of tea.”
The bench relocation means the tribute now sits in a more fitting location, allowing the presenter and his family a place to remember his parents in more pleasant surroundings than before.
