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Cristiano Ronaldo has spoken about the tragic death of his son Angel and how the support of the royal family, rival fans and partner Georgina Rodriguez helped make his difficult return to football.
Portuguese captain and partner Georgina Rodriguez, 28, tragically revealed that their newborn son, named Angel, had died in childbirth on April 18, but his twin daughter Bella survived.
It sparked a wave of support from inside and outside the game and Liverpool fans chanted ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ in the seventh minute of their next game.
Ronaldo and partner Georgina Rodriguez tragically revealed their newborn son had died in childbirth on April 13, and three months later his twin daughter was also hospitalized
He also received a letter from the royal family.
Ronaldo: ‘I never expect that. Never. I now have the opportunity to say, all the English community, thank you very much for that, kind of what they did to me. Not just Liverpool, but all of England.
“I also received a letter from the Queen’s family… And I was very surprised…
“That’s why I say, I respect a lot, the English community, English people, because they’ve been very kind to me. And at that difficult moment in my life… [the support] was spectacular.
“The way they treat me, me and my family at that difficult moment, I should be saying directly to the camera, ‘Thank you, to all the English community who helped me at that moment.'”
Ronaldo revealed that he keeps his son’s ashes close to his father’s in a chapel at his home
Ronaldo spoke of the poignant moment of returning from hospital with his partner Georgina to explain to his older children what had happened.
‘At the beginning. Gio comes home and the kids start saying where’s the other baby? Where’s the other baby?
‘Of course Cristiano [his eldest son], I had a conversation with him during the day, because he is 12 years old, he knows everything, understands everything, and I had a nice conversation with him. We cried together in his bedroom and explained and it’s kind of – he doesn’t understand, he does understand, but in the same way he was kind of confused.
“The others at the beginning, on the table, the kids start saying ‘Mom where’s the other baby bla bla bla – and you at the beginning they start saying because, you know, she had a little tummy because she had two it’s a difficult process. And after a week I say, ‘Let’s be honest and be honest with the kids, let’s say, Angel, as the name is, they’re going to heaven’.
Ronaldo (left) believes the grief over the loss of his son has brought the whole family closer together
‘It is better to say so and that is how we will use it. And the kids always understand, when we’d yelled at the table and they said ‘Daddy, I did this for Angel’ and they pointed to the, to the sky… I like it best because, you know, it’s a part of their lives and I’m not going to lie to my kids to tell the truth, which is that it was a hard process, but in the same way I’m becoming more father, kinder to them; they are getting closer to their father, especially me with the Georgina.’
Ronaldo revealed that his partner Georgina Rodriguez helped him through the difficult return to football after the death of his son.
He added: ‘But I always have good support from my family. And Georgina said to me, ‘go, go play, go and enjoy doing what you love. It will help you to forget the situation a little bit.’ It was hard, but at the same time that thing helps you to, you know, not think too much about that, even though the training was good. But as you know football moves so fast and you know training, games, even the national team it all moves so fast you don’t even have time to relax and say what’s going on you know because things are moving so fast. But it was a good help, Georgina helped me a lot to give me that stability.
Georgina shares daughter Alana, three, with Cristiano, and the Manchester United star also has son Cristiano Jr, 11, and twins Eva and Mateo, four
‘We help each other. She (Georgina) struggled when she was young so she will see life with different eyes even though she is young but she suffered. She was born in Argentina, she also has problems with her family, she lived alone. She also has an interesting life and an interesting history… And she helped me a lot. She is very mature for this age, we help each other sometimes when I’m a little down she pushes me up and I do it the other way. So we’re a nice couple and we help each other, so I’m really glad she’s on my side.’
Ronaldo said it was possible they would get married:
He said, “I’m not thinking about that right now, but I can see in the future I think I deserve, she deserves, but it’s something that’s not in my plans now, but in the future is yes, I want.” ‘
Georgina and Ronaldo famously met while she was working as a shop assistant in Madrid