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The That\u2019s Life! host, 83, revealed this week that she has signed up to the assisted dying clinic in Switzerland after being diagnosed with terminal lung cancer in January.<\/p>\n
But daughter Rebecca Wilcox said yesterday: \u201cI can\u2019t even say I would support my mum on her journey to Dignitas because if I said that, that\u2019s legally murky.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously, in my head, I would have thought I would never let her go alone to somewhere like that.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m a busy working mum. I can\u2019t leave my children to pop off to jail while she\u2019s buzzing off to Switzerland.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe fact is only three people a year get prosecuted. The process of going through a court case at what is the worst time of my life…mum is my person, I do not want to live without her. I will have to live without her.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rebecca, 43, pleaded with authorities to not make this part of her life any harder.<\/p>\n
She added: \u201cDon\u2019t make it worse for me by accusing me of murdering her and making me go through what would be a terrifying legal process.<\/p>\n
\u201cDignitas does not look like a very lovely place. I would much rather have diamonds and champagne and a hot bathtub. I think mum would too. We both model ourselves on Dame Joan Collins, who is fabulous.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rebecca admitted she would want to \u201cground the plane\u201d should her mother fly to the suicide clinic in Zurich \u2013 but fully supports her right to choose how to end her life.<\/p>\n
She added: \u201cI know it\u2019s her decision. I just don\u2019t ever want her to go.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rebecca, who has taken on her mum\u2019s role as president of ChildLine \u2013 the charity the campaigner set up in 1986 \u2013 said Dame Esther \u201cnever makes a decision in complete isolation, but she doesn\u2019t care what anyone else says\u201d.<\/p>\n
Rebecca added: \u201cIt\u2019s \u00adhorrific. She always promised us she would live forever. She\u2019s not usually one to break her promises so we\u2019re a little upset about that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mum-of-two Rebecca will host Christmas for the family this year, one her mother did not think she would live to see after her stage four lung cancer diagnosis.<\/p>\n
Also around the dinner table will be the redoubtable TV presenter\u2019s other children from her marriage to the late Desmond Wilcox, Miriam and Joshua, and her cherished grandchildren Benji, 11, Alexander, eight, Teddy, eight, and twins Florence and Romilly, five.<\/p>\n
Rebecca said: \u201cMy brother said living with mum is like living next to a volcano \u2013 you don\u2019t know whether the flowing lava is going to be flowers and celebrations or an explosion.<\/p>\n
Don’t miss… <\/strong> Esther\u2019s has been a life well-lived, she deserves same for death – Carol Malone<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cShe\u2019s never done something to win our approval, it\u2019s always because of what is right. Her early adopting of campaigns is probably the most underrated skill she has. She has a strange zeitgeist, even at 83. She is always on the money and always gets it. She is the person I ring several times a day and see her several times a week. But hell hath no fury like Esther being told no.\u201d<\/p>\n Appearing on TalkTV yesterday, Rebecca added: \u201cTo remember her in pain and unhappy would be awful. A waste. Such a waste.\u201d<\/p>\n Dame Esther has spoken candidly about how she still suffers pangs of searing loneliness after the loss of her husband \u2013 \u201cmy Desi\u201d \u2013 in 2000.<\/p>\n She said previously: \u201cNot a day goes by when I don\u2019t think of Desi. The passage of time doesn\u2019t make it any easier. Yes, I am very busy, but I still get terribly lonely.<\/p>\n \u201cIt can strike everyone, rich or poor, unknown or famous.\u201d<\/p>\n The documentary maker\u2019s \u201cslow and painful death\u201d battling heart disease is what the TV star wants to avoid. And Rebecca said \u201cdenial is something mum and I have in common\u201d. She added: \u201cI know that when my father died, all we thought about for years were those last seconds.<\/p>\n\n