Gogglebox star Di Kershaw bids farewell to the funeral of grieving husband Mick

Di Kershaw enjoyed the fame she found late in her life on Gogglebox Australia, happily posing for selfies with fans of the programme.

She loved a lot of things in her 77 years: shopping, trashy gossip magazines, fashion and kombucha and vodka on the rocks in a wine glass.

But as mourners heard at the part-time TV star’s funeral in Sydney on Friday, she was most devoted to her husband Mick, her children Alex and Victoria and her six-year-old grandson Harvey.

For those who only knew Di from Gogglebox, she was the elegantly dressed master of withering put-downs as she and Mick dissected TV shows on their couch.

Mick and Di Kershaw couldn’t wait to get into the couch for the final season of Gogglebox Australia, which began filming this month. Di’s death from stomach cancer on July 22 means Mick won’t continue to appear on the show without her.

In his eulogy, Alex spoke of his parents’ love affair which began on the northern beaches when Mick was 20 and Di was 17. “Mick and Di were totally in love,” Alex said.

The art dealer couple would have celebrated their 55th wedding anniversary last Thursday and had been together for 60 years.

Mick and Di had been on Gogglebox since its first season in 2015 and were among the Channel 10-Foxtel programme’s most identifiable participants.

Diane Lesley Kershaw died of stomach cancer aged 77 on July 22 and chose to bid farewell in an unvarnished coffin at Garrison Church in Millers Point.

His son Alex, 45, and daughter Victoria, 43, came to the Anglican service to celebrate a life well lived with their 80-year-old father.

In his eulogy, Alex spoke of his parents’ love affair that began on the northern beaches when Mick was 20 and Di just 17.

“Mick and Di were totally in love,” Alex said.

Di’s son Alex (second adult from left) and daughter Victoria (above) came to the Anglican service to celebrate a life well lived with their 80-year-old father (far right)

Alex Kershaw said Mick and Di do everything together — Sunday night movies, trips, collect art — and hang out more nights a week than most of his hipster students.

After a long courtship, they married in 1967, the same year Johnny Cash and June Carter released the classic country song Jackson.

“They got married in a fever, hotter than a pepper sprout,” Alex said, quoting the hit single’s opening lyrics.

The art teacher described how Mick and Di did everything together – Sunday night movies, trips, art collecting – and went out more nights a week than most of his hipster students.

“Di’s friends all know she knew how to throw a damn good party,” he said.

Alex recalled how his mother loved a glass of red wine — as Gogglebox viewers would know — “but she didn’t care if it was a $10 or $100 bottle.”

She was a woman who did not suffer fools willingly and could crush anyone who got in her way, but cared deeply for everyone she loved.

A choir sang Abide with Me, Amazing Grace and Let it Be at the end of the service

Mick, 80, told Daily Mail Australia that Di, 77, fell ill around three months ago when she started having trouble keeping food down. She spent nine weeks at St Vincent’s Hospital in Darlinghurst in Sydney city center and her final fortnight at Sacred Heart Hospice.

“She liked being in control and she wasn’t particularly happy when she wasn’t,” Alex said.

The service learned that Di was an extrovert who stood out in any crowd. She didn’t watch the evening news, believed in astrology, and “arranged” food rather than cooking it.

She had always seemed indestructible.

Alex related a series of anecdotes that summed up his mother’s character at all stages of her life.

A natural beauty who had modeled as a teenager, Di described herself before meeting Mick as “a Newport girl who couldn’t be caught”.

She had been expelled from school aged 15 after being found at an arts student ball in the former Trocadero dance hall on George Street.

A natural beauty who had modeled as a teenager, Di described herself before meeting Mick as “a Newport girl who couldn’t be caught”. Mick is pictured on the far right

“The cancer had spread and was inoperable,” Mick said. “The only alternative to that was chemo or radiation, but she was far too weak to undergo that. Di is seen below, second from right, with the cast of Gogglebox Australia

While on a trip to San Francisco in 1976, she was approached by singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell who wanted to buy the Victorian nightgown she wore. Di told her she couldn’t have it.

“Life is for living”, she said.

“There was a vitality that you could call contagiously effervescent,” Alex said. “She was a warrior queen following her speech.”

Being invited to appear on Gogglebox had been a chance to find a new kind of fun in old age that she and Mick embraced wholeheartedly.

“She loved being on Gogglebox,” Alex said.

Being invited to appear on Gogglebox had been a chance to find a new kind of fun in old age that she and Mick embraced wholeheartedly. “She loved being on Gogglebox,” her son Alex said.

Mick and Di were approached about appearing on the show by a production scout for EndemolShine at a cocktail party for the opening of an art exhibition in Paddington.

The pair were unfamiliar with the original UK Gogglebox, but the scout saw they had something together that would appeal to audiences of a local release.

Mick and Di didn’t think long about the proposal. They had sold their native art galleries in Darlinghurst and Cairns and had time off in semi-retirement.

The couple bonded with production staff whom they invited into their living room, welcoming births and attending a member’s wedding.

They were looking forward to getting back on the couch to appear in the next season of Gogglebox which will begin airing on August 25.

Di spent nine weeks at St Vincent’s Hospital in Darlinghurst in Sydney city center and the last fortnight at Sacred Heart Hospice next door.

Di kept her terminal diagnosis a secret from all but those closest to the art dealer couple. The former model, who was unable to eat and was on intravenous fluids, spent her final days surrounded by her family

Di kept his terminal diagnosis a secret from all but those closest to the family. “She was strong willed and she was brave,” Alex said.

“Mick will definitely miss being directed.” She was ‘giving lips’ until the very end.

Mick previously told Daily Mail Australia that Di’s cancer was inoperable and she had opted to stop being fed intravenously.

“Part of that decision was thinking about us,” he said. “A big part of that decision was not wanting to put us through that.”

Filming for the next season of Gogglebox began earlier this month and Mick said he wouldn’t do the show without Di: “We were a couple.”

Di Kershaw was awarded the Order of Australia medal in 2020 for his service to the visual arts

Origin: | Dailymail.co.uk