Jo Whiley’s husband accidentally kills their cat in devastating tragedy

Jo Whiley has shared that her husband is in a ‘world of pain’ after accidentally killing their family cat.

The TV and radio presenter, 60, has been married to music executive Steve Morton since 1991, with the couple sharing daughters India and Coco, and sons Jude and Cassius, and the family having two dogs and two cats too.

However, on the latest episode of her Dig It podcast with fellow BBC Radio 2 host Zoe Ball, Jo revealed that the family had recently faced the devastating loss of one of their pets.

Sharing the details of what happened, an emotional Jo began by explaining: ‘I feel like I haven’t been completely honest with what’s going on in my life, but I can’t – I just can’t talk about it.

‘Sorry, I thought I should do it, but I don’t think I can. And God, it’s really hard to talk about, but I should do it because I think it’s actually relatively common.

‘But we came back from holiday, and all the kids are out doing various different things. I went to my mum and dad, and I got a call from Steve in a complete panic.’

Jo then said that her husband had ‘run our cat over’.

“And he had come home, and he – it sounds ridiculous to say – but he’d run our cat over. And it’s really sad.”

‘So, whereas once we were a family with four pets, we now have three,’ she went on.

‘It was Simba, our cat, who was the old lady of the family. And I think we’ve showed pictures of her before, and I’ve talked about her before. She was the Bengal, and she’s about 14 years old…and had a fierce presence.’

The family also have another cat named Gingin, a Sproodle dog called Brodie and a golden retriever named Boosh.

Detailing what unfolded, Jo said that Simba and the other animals had been ‘lazing about on the gravel’ on a hot day.

‘And she was lying there. And he literally drove in really slowly, he said. And he got out of the car and went to move her out of the way, moved her, physically moved her, thought that she’d gone, and then drove the car in, and she hadn’t.

‘We just cannot work out what on earth happened. And he’s absolutely distraught.’

Jo said that her husband had been Simba’s favourite – and he was now ‘in a world of pain’.

She then said she was glad none of their children had been home at the time, which she was grateful for.

‘He had to deal with that with our lovely friend, Andrew the vet, who came along and put her out of her misery,’ she explained.

After having to tell their children about the accident, Jo said it was ‘the worst thing in the world’.

‘Having to work out the words to say, knowing like going to pick up Coco, she’s had an amazing day with her friends, knowing you’ve got this awful news that you’ve got to tell her to make everything come crashing down and doing that. And then Cas, who loves animals so much. So, it’s been horrid.’

Although Jo had been hesitant to share what happened on the podcast, she eventually decided to share the details as their show was ‘all about reflecting our lives, and it’s not all happy, sunny, smiley stuff’.

While Jo said her children have been left heartbroken over Simba’s death – they were ‘worried’ by how the accident has affected their dad.

‘He’s OK. I mean, testament to my kids that they were upset about Simba, but they were more worried about Dad. So, yeah, I’m giving him lots of love,’ she said.

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