Max George, the lead vocalist of The Wanted, broke down during Wednesday’s Scared of the Dark performance as he discussed the passing of his former bandmate Tom Parker.
Parker battled a stage 4 glioblastoma brain malignancy from 2020 until his death in March at age 33.
The Gold Forever singer, 34, said on tonight’s episode of the Channel 4 documentary that Parker had a tonne of support from artist Ed Sheeran after disclosing his diagnosis.
‘Do you know what was lovely, people from outside our group and friends, even they chipped in to help. Ed Sheeran did as well. That saved Tom’s life for a year,’ he told co-stars Chloe Burrows, Nicola Adams, Paul Gascoigne, Scarlett Moffatt, Donna Preston and Chris McCausland.
A teary Max added: ‘How do you deal with it? There’s no cure for that so you just sort of learn to carry on with your life. Deal with it? Definitely not.
‘I don’t think I’ll ever be OK with it. One of the last things I said to him was I thanked him for making my life so much better than it ever could have been.
‘That whole journey through being in the band, he was my best friend.’
In an excerpt from Parker’s biography Hope that The Sun was able to get, Tom detailed how the 31-year-old Thinking Out Loud singer assisted him in covering some of his medical expenses.
He wrote: ‘I’ve never publicly said this before (and he’ll probably be mad that I’m doing it now) but Ed is a very special man — he even helped out with my medical bills when I was seeking other treatment options and having private immunotherapy.
‘He didn’t need to do any of that, but my wife Kelsey and I are so grateful to him for his support, it meant the world.’
During tonight’s episode of Scared of the Dark, Max’s co-stars were concerned for the singer as started to feel the social experiment taking its toll.
While everyone feared he would quit the series, the star was determined to see it through.
Scared of the Dark returns tomorrow at 9pm on Channel 4.
