Steve Wright never recovered from the BBC axing his Steve Wright in the Afternoon show in September 2022, a friend has claimed.
Celebrity publicist Gary Farrow, who split from Loose Women’s Jane Moore in December 2022, said he thinks Steve “died of a broken heart” following the axe.
However, Steve’s brother has since broken his silence on the star’s death.
Steve continued to host his weekly Radio 2 show, Sunday Love Songs, up until a day before his death.
The popular BBC DJ died on Monday (February 12), his family announced in a statement. He was pronounced dead at his London flat after an ambulance was sent to respond to “an incident“. He was aged 69.
Steve Wright never recovered from BBC axe, friend claims
Speaking to The Sun, Farrow claimed Steve never got over being axed from his Radio 2 afternoon show after 24 years.
He said: “Steve lived for that show, he absolutely loved it – and the listeners loved him. My view is that he died from a broken heart. From what I know, he didn’t have any real medical problems – he was always taking vitamins and popping pills.
“Sure, he didn’t really eat broccoli and he liked McDonald’s, but he was such a character, the likes of which I don’t think we will see again. He would spend hours and hours researching before a show, checking out guests and doing his homework. Radio was his life.
“He was Mr Showbiz. He was the first to discuss and champion new books, films, records and TV shows, and so progressive in that respect. So quite how the BBC could decide he was ‘too old’ or not current enough is a joke. There was no one more current or on the pulse than Steve. There was no one more relevant,” he said.
Lunch plans this week
Gary said that he had plans to meet his friend of 40 years for lunch this week. He said that Steve was “painfully shy” and just wanted “someone at the BBC to put an arm around him every now and then, and say: ‘You’re doing a great job, Steve. We all love you'”.
He added that he’ll “never understand” the decision to axe his show. And, he claimed, it “devastated” Steve.
However, Steve’s brother Laurence has told MailOnline: “He was aware that he could have looked after himself better, in his lifestyle choices. Obviously we all wish he had.
“It’s like anyone who doesn’t look after themselves over an extended period. The normal stuff – diet, nutrition, exercise, sleep, stress – he was a very stoic kind of guy as well so if he had something wrong with him and he had to go to have some treatment or go to the doctors, he wouldn’t talk about it.
“He was the kind of guy who would just carry on, take care of it, not talk about it, not make a big thing, that kind of stoic sort of attitude. That’s just how he was – that probably didn’t help really, because he wouldn’t have help or take advice necessarily.”
BBC issues statement
Steve was replaced in his daily afternoon slot back in September 2022. Scott Mills took over in a bid to attract a younger audience.
The move was blasted at the time and, this week, others have spoken out about the treatment of Steve by the BBC.
A spokesperson for Radio 2 told us: “Steve was deeply loved by the Radio 2 family and listeners, and for almost three decades he hosted a raft of brilliant shows on the network enjoyed by millions.
“In addition to his past Saturday and Afternoon Shows, Steve’s Sunday Love Songs has been on air since 1996, and most recently Steve also hosted the legendary Pick of the Pops on Saturdays, alongside a variety of specials on Radio 2, and Steve Wright: The Best of the Guests, Steve Wright’s Summer Nights and Steve Wright’s Love Songs Extra on BBC Sounds.
“We will miss him dearly,” the statement then added.
Read more: Inside Steve Wright’s health battle after he ballooned to 18 stone
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