Bobby Ball’s heartbreaking vow to beloved family after fame tore them apart
The much-loved actor and comedian has died at the age of 76 after testing positive for coronavirus
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Bobby Ball’s beloved wife of 46 years Yvonne paid a special tribute to her entertainer husband after it was announced he had died at the age of 76.
The much-loved star died in hospital on Wednesday night after testing positive for coronavirus.
After the sad news was revealed by Bobby’s manager, Yvonne later said: “I will always miss him, he was so joyful, full of fun and mischievous.”
The pair, who met when Yvonne was a teenager , were inseparable with Bobby’s stint on I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here! being one of the longest times they’d been apart in recent years.
In the latter half of Bobby’s career, Yvonne travelled with her husband for interviews and stage shows after he previously revealed his regret at not spending enough time with his loved-ones when his TV career blew up.
Bobby got his big break in the late 1970s alongside his comedy parter Tommy Ball.
The duo were booked to perform skits on Bruce Forsyth’s Big Night after which impressed TV bosses decided to give them their own show.
The Cannon and Ball Show, a hugely successful comedy variety series, ran for nine years on ITV between 1979 to 1988 and made huge stars of the double act at its heart.
Speaking about his incredible rise to the top, Bobby said that fame came with its downsides.
“At the height of my success in the 80s, I didn’t have much time off for family, which I regret, but I’m making up for it now,” he candidly told the Mirror in 2015.
Bobby did wave goodbye to Yvonne for two weeks in 2005 when he appeared on popular ITV reality series I’m A Celeb.
Despite facing gruelling camp life and the notorious Bushtucker Trials, Bobby said being away from his wife was the hardest challenge of all.
“I endured starvation, sickness and spider bites – but I missed Yvonne like crazy,” he said.
Bobby admitted he began to contemplate the heartbreak he’d feel at losing Yvonne when the character he played on Sky series Mount Pleasant mourned the loss of his wife Sue
“It’s an emotional storyline,” Bobby said. “I thought about losing my own wife Yvonne for that scene. I couldn’t cope without her at all. We’ve been together 42 years and are like two peas in a pod. I’m totally dependent on her.”
Yvonne was a 19-year-old bunny-girl waitress in a Lancashire nightclub when she first met Bobby and remained by his side throughout his long and illustrous entertainment career ever since.
Revealing the moment he laid eyes on her while on tour with Tommy, Bobby said: “We were playing there … she came downstairs in a little mini skirt, looked at me and Tommy, shook her head and walked away. I thought, ‘I’d spend my life with her.”
Despite his regrets at missing some major family events in his younger years, Bobby vowed that he would never stop working.
“I could never call it quits. If no promoters booked me, I’d be out there busking. I’m a ham and love to make people laugh, it’s a fantastic job.
MirrorCeleb