It’s Not Raining, Daddy, It’s Happy

Ben was born in 1979 in Southport, where he lived with his parents and two elder brothers until he left home for university aged 18. After studying for four years in Leeds and Spain, Ben embarked on a career in public relations, which lasted 12 years and saw him take charge as the managing director of a large PR firm in London in 2012. Just months later his wife, Desreen, was hit and killed by a car leaving Ben a widower and sole parent to their two-year-old son, Jackson. Ben started a blog called Life as a Widower two months after his wife's death in a bid to help others by opening up about his own experiences of grief. Within months the blog amassed a worldwide audience united in grief and became the precursor for Ben's first book. He and Jackson live together in southeast London.