Strictly Come Dancing 2016 winner Ore Oduba has opened up about the heartbreaking death of his sister, and his deeply painful loss changed his entire outlook on life
Sports broadcaster Ore Oduba has opened up about the heartbreaking death of his sibling, Lola, admitting that the loss of them changed his whole outlook on life. The BBC Sport host, who won Strictly Come Dancing in 2016 alongside Joanne Clifton, revealed how his family has had a “really difficult year”.
Speaking on John Reynolds’ Extraordinary Life Stories podcast, Ore, 39, spoke about his deeply personal and painful experience of losing his sister. He explained: “I wasn’t prepared to lose my sister. She’s been with me every day since.
“My sister’s non-binary, they told us in their goodbye letter. They’ve been with me every day since. What my sister did in choosing to find peace in death that they couldn’t find in life – that was strength, that was courage, and that was brave.
“And having gone through the last four or five years of their life and hearing about these troubles they were dealing with physically and emotionally. And actually, my sister did more living in the last five years of their life than in the previous 32 and still made a decision that they couldn’t carry on in this world.
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“What they did for all of us in those last weeks, that’s given me the strength every day. And my responsibility now is to carry that legacy, because nothing is hard compared to what my sister went through.”
Ore’s sister, Lola, sadly died in April this year, a year after the presenter divorced from his wife of nine years, Portia Oduba. Ore said how his sister’s death gave him a completely new outlook on life, adding: “We don’t know when our last day is, and the truth is there isn’t time, there isn’t time. So I’m going to make the most of every single second I’ve got left.
“I can’t say enough, when you’ve been through something that puts life into perspective, your whole outlook changes. None of this stuff matters, John, none of it matters. But you can wrestle what is really important back before it’s too late.”
Ore showed his support on social media for Lola earlier this month, revealing his sibling identified as non-binary, using they/them pronouns, towards the end of their life. He began: “Lots of people have been asking about the rainbow in my bio… some will say I don’t need to explain myself (and they’d be right) however in this case I’m happy to share my why. It’s maybe not why you think.”
He continued: “I’ve mentioned before about the longer you can withstanding a storm the closer you are to your rainbow. I’m so glad to have grown monumentally through a truly difficult, stormy period in my life. the colours of my rainbow look very bright today.
“But in losing my sister in April the symbol of a rainbow has brought me closer to them in the times I’ve needed it desperately. My sister was very proudly black and very proudly queer.
“Definitely an ICON to me and so many of their friends and family. In the last year of their life they identified as non-binary. My pride for them knows no bounds.
“Despite doing a whole lot of living in their latter years, my sister spent much of their life in shame and humiliation of who they were. In so many ways, my sister’s death gave ME a gift of life.
“Having realised I’d lived the majority of my life for the attention of others, often suppressing my authentic self, my sister gave me the wake up call to live my life fully and express myself wholeheartedly. And that is what I plan to do. It’s certainly the version of me I want to mirror for my children.”
Ore then addressed his sexuality, writing: “So am I gay, as someone keenly asked me on insta yesterday. No, not in the traditional or sexual sense.
“But if ‘coming out’ is about shedding a former self to put forward the new, truest version of me, without the shame, the hiding, without the second-guessing whether any decision will make me happy rather than how others perceive me, how I cheerlead others with kindness and compassion, with occasionally quiet, or loud, flamboyance, depending on the mood, and a big dollop of camp then HALLELUJAH – count me in!”
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