ITV This Morning’s Ben Shephard shares ’emotional’ family reason he was up early

Ben Shepard opened up about his son Sam leaving home for university during a chat with Lorraine on ITV’s This Morning.

The Scottish presenter was keen to hear more about Sam’s first few days at university as she spoke with Ben and co-host Cat Deeley. A picture of Sam and his wife Annie appeared on screen, prompting Ben to share: “So he’s had freshers. It was all very emotional.”

He continued: “This was him and Annie, he’s in Bristol. She was better than I was to be fair, I was really really emotional about it.” As This Morning began, Ben revealed that his godson and his best friend’s son had also started university this weekend, reports the Mirror.

He added: “Sam went last week, we had a FaceTime from Sam this morning at 7:30 saying, ‘Mum, how do I do washing?’ He had all his clothes and he wanted clearance from his mum!”

As Cat chuckled, Ben explained that Sam was unsure about which cycle to use for his laundry. Ben said: “She (Annie) couldn’t have been happier that she’s still very needed.” His co-star suggested that Sam wouldn’t be asking for laundry advice for much longer as he’d soon be bringing his washing home. Ben responded: “It was lovely to feel wanted!”

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Ben and his wife Annie are parents to two sons, Sam and Jack, who he often mentions on This Morning. But things took an awkward turn on Monday as the ITV host shared a humorous anecdote about potty training one of his children. He shared a humorous family anecdote: “My parents and Annie’s parents were brilliant at helping. With Sam, I remember vividly we used to say, ‘Come on should we go and cross swords’, when he was little.”

Continuing the story with a chuckle, he added, “He thought it was great fun, the problem was when he went to my mum’s house he said, ‘Granny come on let’s cross swords!'”

Wrapping up the tale, he noted, “He was trying to cross swords with his granny, which obviously the women of the golf club thought was hilarious and he couldn’t quite understand why she wasn’t quite willing to play this game!”