‘I stood there crying and holding her’

Shirlie Kemp has recalled an emotional encounter she had with a fan about her son Roman Kemp’s “powerful” mental health documentary.

The singer is a proud mum to two children, singer-songwriter Harley Moon and presenter Roman. Shirlie shares her kids with Martin Kemp, whom she married way back in 1988.

As well as his telly work, Roman has long been an advocate for mental health. And according Shirley, she is “proud” of him for speaking out about “the heaviest of topics” as “it has to be done”.

Shirlie recalled an emotional encounter with a fan (Credit: ITV / Loose Women/ Youtube)

Shirlie Kemp ‘proud’ of son Roman

Over the years, Roman has been open about his mental health struggles. In 2021, he fronted a powerful documentary for the BBC called Roman Kemp: Our Silent Emergency.  The programme looked at how young men are being affected by mental health, after Roman’s friend Joe Lyons took his own life.

And in a recent interview, Roman’s mum Shirlie Kemp opened up about how proud she is of him.

The former pop star went on to recall a time she was left in tears after a heartbreaking conversation with a fan about Roman’s documentary.

Roman has been open about his mental health for years (Credit: ITV)

‘I stood there crying and holding her’

“I was in Marks & Spencer and this young lady came up to me. And she said, ‘Roman’s documentary was so powerful’,” Shirlie said, as Mirror reports.

She went on to reveal that the young lady shared how her brother took his own life. The woman told Shirlie: “‘I wish he could have seen something like that.’

“And I stood there crying and holding her, because you realise that if there is just one person you can save, that’s enough. So I am proud of him for doing that. It’s the heaviest of topics, but it has to be done.”

Roman’s tribute to late friend

Earlier this year, Roman took to social media to pay tribute to his friend, Joe Lyons, five years after his tragic death.

On his Instagram story, Roman shared a clip of Joe animatedly watching and commenting on a Tottenham football match. He was in the Capital studio where their friendship began.

“Can’t believe it’s been 5 years since you’ve been gone bud. Still one of the best commentators I’ve ever heard,” Roman wrote in the caption of this video. “Even if we were meant to be running a national radio show,” he added with the crying with laughter emoji.

He then tagged Joe’s Buddy Line in the post, which is an initiative to get people talking about mental health in collaboration with suicide prevention charity Shout.