Singer and TV presenter Brenda Edwards has said her son Jamal “passed with me holding his hand”, as she gave her first interview since his death.
SBTV founder Jamal Edwards died on February 20 at the age of 31.
Ahead of her return to ITV’s Loose Women on April 26, Edwards, 52, spoke to fellow panellist Coleen Nolan about Jamal’s death, saying: “It was sudden and it was unexpected, and he went into a cardiac arrest and then he passed with me holding his hand.
“So I get a little bit of comfort from knowing I was with him.”
Today, @brenda_edwards is returning to the show for a special sit down interview with @NolanColeen talking for the first time about the passing of her son Jamal. 💜 pic.twitter.com/09EjIU6T3h
— Loose Women (@loosewomen) April 25, 2022
Edwards has been a regular panellist on Loose Women since 2019.
Speaking to Nolan, 57, at her home, Edwards continued: “As much as that is comfort, at the same time it’s a vision that I’m never gonna forget.
“And I wake up every morning and there’s all his photos still obviously in the house, and I look at him and I say ‘Good morning, baby’, and I say ‘Good night, baby’.
“And I think doing that is what’s keeping me going.”
Music entrepreneur Jamal found fame after setting up the music platform SBTV in 2006, and was credited with helping to launch a string of UK music acts to stardom, including Ed Sheeran, Dave and Jessie J.
Edwards told Nolan she is “taking each day as it comes” as she learns to live with her son’s death.
She added: “I feel his presence constantly.
“And I know that I have always been somebody who has faith and who believes in that and that has been a massive comfort to me.”
She also shared details of her son’s funeral, which she called his “home-going”.
“Something that was hard for me was the fact that the announcement of him passing was taken away from me and it was announced elsewhere, but I was glad that I managed to keep control of his home-going service,” she said.
She added: “When we laid him to rest, it was really beautiful. We looked up into the sky and there was a J. The clouds had formed a J and a friend took a picture of it.”
Edwards said she has set up the Jamal Edwards Self Belief Trust in his memory, saying: “It’s been set up with two main things in mind.
“Jamal was all about empowering young people. We want to set up an academy for 16 to 21 year olds, giving them an internship, if you like, within an organisation over a period of a year, where they learn everything from the ground up.
“And then we’re also looking to set up a homeless sanctuary.”
Speaking about her son’s legacy, Edwards said: “He said, ‘We all die. The goal is not to live forever but to create something that will.’ And I believe he has created something that will and I’m determined to make sure that it will. That’s my goal.”
Edwards will return to the Loose Women panel tomorrow for the first time since February. She said: “It has been great having the ladies there and that’s something which has been a big part of my life and the kids’ lives, so I need to return. It’s not even want to, I need to return.”
After the interview, Loose Women panellists Ruth Langsford, Coleen Nolan, Frankie Bridge and Jane Moore all read out messages of support for Brenda from viewers.