Dancing On Ice’s Adele Roberts shares heartbreaking news her ‘beautiful’ mother Jackie has died aged 61 after lengthy illness – as star dedicates tearful debut on show to ‘her hero’

Adele Roberts has revealed her ‘beautiful’ mother Jackie Roberts passed away aged 61 earlier this month, in an emotional post shared on Sunday.

The Dancing On Ice star, 44, shared the heartbreaking news that ‘her hero’ Jackie had died on 4 January followed by a funeral last week on Instagram following her ’emotional’ performance on the ITV skating show earlier in the evening.

The Radio 1 presenter explained she didn’t want to share the news of her mother’s passing until after her performance on Dancing On Ice. She did not specify her cause of death, however Jackie has suffered ill health for many years. 

Referencing the routine, Adele revealed her appearance on the ice was was dedicated to the memory of her late mother, while also explaining she was ‘overly emotional’ on air because of her recent heartbreak.

In touching pictures she posted, Adele showed Jackie her skating shoes and clips of herself performing on stage, while her Instagram page is packed with touching images on Jackie from both recent years and her childhood. 

Alongside the touching pictures, she wrote: ‘For you Mum. Tonight’s performance was dedicated to the memory of my beautiful Mum, Jackie Roberts. 01.09.62 – 04.01.24…

‘I didn’t want to say anything until I’d managed to get through our routine tonight. So apologies if it seemed I was overly emotional…

‘My heart is broken and I miss my mum so much. Saying goodbye to her this week was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do. My mum got to see the start of our routine… and tonight I wanted to finish it in her honour…

‘To my family. Thank you for keeping my head up and for giving me the strength to carry on. Thank you also to all the amazing people who came to help us say goodbye to her this week. You brought us so much comfort standing by our side…

‘Thank you to the whole incredible Dancing On Ice team for guiding me through one of the toughest weeks of my life. Especially you @markhanretty…

‘I know how much you wanted to help me do my mum proud and I know it would have been playing on your mind all night. You are incredible… 

‘Thank you for teaching me to dance, to skate and joy of expressing emotion through my body. Your sport is so beautiful. I still can’t believe tonight happened…

‘Thank you to every single person who has supported us so far. We are absolutely blown away by your encouragement and kindness. Mark and I are truly grateful and we promise to keep trying our best and give it 100%…

‘And to my biggest supporter from day one – my incredible mum. Goodnight my love. I shall think of you and miss you everyday of my life. Forever my hero. Until we meet again ❤️’.

Her celebrity friends and Dancing On Ice co-stars rushed to the comments to pay tribute to Jackie as well as support Adele.

Claire Sweeney wrote: ‘You are such a beautiful brave woman and your mum would have been so proud xxxx’, while Ryan Thomas penned: ‘You did her so proud tonight’ and Vick Hope added: ‘So so sorry for your loss Adele. Sending so much love to you’. 

Patsy Palmer wrote: ‘So sorry . You are so brave’.

Hours before her harrowing announcement, Adele wowed the Dancing On Ice judges, earning the highest score of the series so far.

The DJ was bought to tears as the judges revealed her score of 27.5 for her debut routine with partner Mark Hanretty. 

Adele gave an emotional introduction to the show, hailing her reason for joining as ‘a celebration of life’ following her bowel cancer battle – while also making a low-key reference to her mother Jackie before she announced the news to the world.

The pair skated to the song Clearly by Grace VanderWaal, but there was one unsteady moment as Mark skidded on the ice and briefly fell.

Judge Christopher Dean joked about the tumble during his scoring, saying he gave Adele 7.0 and Mark 6.0.

Adele’s girlfriend Kate Holderness was in tears as she along with others gave the pair a standing ovation. 

Commenting on her emotional performance, she said: ‘What an absolute dream, everything I have been through it was worth it for this moment.’ 

In their pre-routine VT Mark called Adele ‘inspiring’ as he explained: ‘I have never skated with anyone with a stoma and literally has a hole in their stomach.’

Adele called her partner ‘a gentleman’, explaining how he has to be gentle when he picks me up’.

Adele was first diagnosed with bowel cancer  in October 2021 and documented her treatment on social media, which included colostomy surgery to remove a bowel tumour and having a stoma bag fitted. 

As well as being a huge fan of the series Adele said: ‘Another reason I wanted to do it as well is just more recently being able to reclaim my body after what it’s been through’. 

‘I feel like it’s allowing me to take back who I am again’.

The former Radio 1 host also candidly discussed the precautions taken in order for her perform on the ice with her stoma.

‘Being new to the world of stomas, I didn’t really know what to expect.I’ve realised that Audrey – that’s what I call it – doesn’t like the ice’. 

‘She’s very quiet. She’s been a joy, actually. I’ve noticed that because I’ve got a hole on the right side of my torso, I don’t have a centre where it used to be’. 

Adele, who has been paired with pro Mark Hanretty, admitted she was having to ‘relearn’ how to use her body and said rotating her midriff was still quite difficult. 

‘I’ve got to really, really think about my movement on the ice but it’s helped me connect with my body, so it’s been a blessing as well.

In 2022, Adele was filmed at home with her partner Kate who helped the star changed her stoma bag – a candid moment that was praised by viewers.

Adele revealed in an October 2021 Instagram post that she was diagnosed with stage 2 cancer, and later underwent colostomy surgery to remove a bowel tumour later that year.

After Kate changed her stoma bag, Adele told her girlfriend ‘I can’t believe I’ve been to the toilet in front of you,’ only for Kate to tell her ‘I don’t see it like that, explaining that she sees the stoma as a ‘separate entity…. it’s like we’re changing our baby.’

The end of the segment showed Adele thanking Kate for ‘accepting my new body’ from the very start of her cancer journey.