Singer Gary Barlow shares details of his one hour with his stillborn daughter

The English singer and his wife hope to help others who've experienced the same loss.

Just days before English singer-songwriter Gary Barlow was scheduled to perform at the closing ceremony of the 2012 London Olympics, his fourth child, Poppy, was stillborn at full-term. But in the midst of heartbreak, Barlow says that he and his wife experienced “the most incredible hour” with their baby girl.

Talking about receiving the news, Barlow said, “I got a phone call and Dawn said, ‘I can’t think of any other way of saying this, but the baby has died’. […] I just went into this fight-or-flight mode.”

“When she did give birth, it was amazing,” he continues. “We had the most incredible hour with our daughter. It was like a light coming into the room. It was gorgeous, both holding her, taking photographs and footprints. We had our moment and we were kind of happy with it and then we went home to a very empty house. Then we started organizing the funeral because these things need organizing.”

After much deliberation, Barlow decided to include a chapter about his daughter’s death in his recent autobiography, A Better Me,in hopes of helping other parents who have suffered the same loss. He said, “The thing that made us decide was how it will actually help other people. People say things like ‘You’ve got three other kids,’ and people don’t really understand your pain. It makes it more painful.”