Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer broke down in tears as he laid bare a series of family tragedies during the most "searingly honest and intensely emotional" interview of his life.
In a three-hour talk with presenter Piers Morgan, Sir Keir revealed how his ill mother died just weeks before he was sworn in as an MP and never got to see him in office.
He told how his father gave up on life and became a recluse after his wife's death, saying: "When she died, it broke him. She was his whole life."
The 58-year-old former lawyer, portrayed as "boring" by critics, gave a "spine-tingling" interview on the ITV show, Morgan said.
He told the Mail on Sunday: "I've done 100 shows and I've rarely seen such raw emotion from any of my guests. People often ask, 'Who is the real Keir Starmer?' Well, there is a lot more to him than people think.
"This is the interview that shows the real him and it is one of the most searingly honest and intensely emotional interviews I've ever done.
"You are left with a real sense of a man who comes from humble beginnings who has worked extremely hard and has had to overcome terrible adversity and a string of family tragedies, all of which have shaped him into the person he is today."
Starmer's mum Jo, a life-long Labour supporter, suffered from Still's disease - a rare form of arthritis which can destroy the joints.
She died in 2015 - just weeks before Sir Keir was elected MP for Holborn and St Pancras.
In quotes carried by the Mail on Sunday, Sir Keir said: "It was really tragic. She would have loved to have seen that. But she was so ill by then.
"She couldn't move, she couldn't use her hands, so she had to be fed.
"She couldn't speak, couldn't communicate. I would have loved her to have been there but she was in a terrible way. In a terrible, terrible place."
When asked what he would have liked to have said to his mother if he had the opportunity, Sir Keir responded: "I love you."
In the interview, which airs at 9.30pm on June 1, Sir Keir also said a government under his leadership would make improving education and creating an economy that deals with insecurity and inequality its top priorities.
He said: "These are the big ticket items coming out of the pandemic. They were the big ticket items before but now they are just more brutally exposed."
Morgan is rebuilding his TV career after leaving Good Morning Britain in March after refusing to apologise for comments he made about Meghan Markle following the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's explosive Oprah Winfrey interview.
In the interview, Meghan spoke about feeling suicidal and suffering from mental illness. She said she asked for help within the Royal Family, but her requests were turned down.
Morgan said he didn't "believe a word she said".
Mental health charity Mind said it was "disappointed" by the presenter's comments.
Meanwhile the Labour leader experienced a drubbing in May's elections, suffering losses in a swathe of English council seats and the Hartlepool Westminster seat for the first time since the 1960s.
In the interview, he also said he had to delay last year's Labour leadership race because his wife's mother spent 17 days in intensive care after a fall and sadly never regained consciousness.
He also described how his family dog was killed in a fire that also destroyed priceless family photographs and heirlooms – including his mother's wedding ring.
