Patti Newton shares emotional details about Bert's final days: 'Fighting spirit'

Six months after Bert Newton passed away following a long health battle, his wife Patti has paid tribute and opened up about his final days for the very first time on TV.

The 77-year-old entertainer appeared on The Morning Show on Tuesday morning when she spoke candidly about her late husband and how she is feeling now.

“It’s a really odd feeling because, to be honest, some days it feels like forever and other days it feels like yesterday,” she told hosts Larry Emdur and Kylie Gillies while accompanied by family friend and musician John Foreman.

“I’m very lucky, I have a beautiful daughter, Lauren, and six grandkids that keep me very busy and we always talk about him a lot. I think because he’s very much present in the house, and everywhere we go, it does help. I think he’s sort of here with me and he always will be.”

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“I didn’t want him to suffer anymore,” Patti continued. “So I probably am relieved that he’s in a safe place and resting peacefully, and he’s still surrounded by a lot of love. And I think that’s what gets me through. It’s not easy, but it never is.”

‘So proud of him’

Speaking about Bert’s “fighting spirit”, Patti went on to share the story of what happened when she visited the hospital one day and found him “very upset sitting in the wheelchair”.

“I said, ‘What’s the matter? Has something happened?’ And he said, ‘No, I just want to know whether I have been a good person and whether you think I have done an okay job of all of this,’” she recalled.

“And I had to say to him that out of everyone I know, with all the people in his position and in his line of work, I don’t know anybody else that would have handled having a leg amputated and being so, you know – not being able to move and not being able to go anywhere – so well.

"It was a long time never to come home, and he handled it so well. I was so proud of him.”

Patti added that her grandkids now associate yellow butterflies and the moon with their “poppy”, and they have made it easier to deal with Bert’s passing.

The legendary TV entertainer died on October 30 last year at the age of 83 after a difficult health battle, including surgery to amputate his leg.

At the time, Patti told reporters that she wasn’t there for his final moments but believes it was meant to be.

“I left at ten past seven, and I was just pulling around to come into my drive and I get the call to say he'd taken his last breath at 7:22pm,” she said at the time.

“So I missed him, but maybe he didn't want me to be there for his last breath.”

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