Heartbroken Red Symons admits he ‘cries every day’ after his son died of cancer – following a series of misfortunes including losing his job and splitting with his wife
- Television and radio icon Red Symons has spoken candidly about recent years
- In the past four years, Symons split with his wife, lost his job and his son died
- He also suffered a debilitating fall in 2016 and spent weeks recovering in hospital
Australian television and radio icon Red Symons has shared his grief at losing his job, marriage and eldest son in the span of only a few years.
The former Skyhooks guitarist, Hey Hey It’s Saturday antagonist and ABC Radio presenter says he still cries regularly after losing his son Samuel to cancer.
On top of his eldest’s premature death, Symons had a scary fall that landed him in a coma before splitting with his wife of 25 years and losing the steady job he’d held for 15.
Australian media icon Red Symons (left) has spoken candidly about losing his son Samuel (right) to cancer
He’s now spoken candidly about the myriad of misfortune he’s suffered in a tell-all interview with Good Weekend.
Symons, now 69, spent the past four decades with a packed schedule.
From being the lead guitarist for the iconic Australian rock group, Skyhooks, to hosting talkback radio for the ABC, Symons didn’t have much time to himself.
But even as a physically active and mentally captivating lifestyle, the bustle of everyday life caught up with him.
The brutal years began in 2016, when he and his wife Elly split after a quarter-of-a-century.
They sold the Melbourne home they’d live in since the 1990s and went their separate ways.
Symons also split with wife Elly (pictured together) after 25 years together in 2016
Only months later, Symons suffered a devastating fall.
He was comatose and hospital-bound for three weeks, but again bounced back.
The fall gave him a new lease on life and encouraged him to take up a healthy fitness regime and he now swimsswimming every morning.
But his employer, ABC Radio, decided not to renew his contract a year later, despite decent ratings and an amicable track record.
Then came the news he and his estranged wife had been dreading.
Their son, Samuel, had lost his lifelong battle with brain cancer at age 27.
‘I still cry every day about that,’ Symons told Good Weekend.
Symons (right) said his priority with his son (centre) was telling him that he loved him
‘In the end, with his recent … let’s say the word, death … what I clung to was just the idea of telling him that I loved him.
‘That’s fundamentally what was there. He went out with grace and dignity. He was in a good place with good people and I don’t believe he went out with discomfort or fear.’
Symons previously said learning that Samuel had a brain tumour was one of the worst moments of his life, though he knew more was to come.
After going through so much heartache and controversy, Symons is now working himself into a new chapter of his life.
His working life consists of fortnightly appearances on Neil Mitchell’s morning program on 3AW Melbourne and is a devoted father.
But when asked what he wants to do with the rest of his life, he answers simply: ‘I don’t know.’
Symons (pictured with his children, including Samuel, right) says he enjoys being semi-retired