Michael Mosley looks happy and carefree in heartbreaking pictures days before tragic death - as wife issues heartbreaking statement
Dr Michael Mosley looks happy and joyous in a newly released set of pictures, taken just days prior to his tragic death. The TV star's passing was confirmed on 9 June by his wife, Dr Clare Bailey Mosley, after Michael went missing on the Greek island of Symi.
The final photographs of Michael, 67, show the doctor looking relaxed at Hay Festival 2024, which ran from 22 May – 1 June. The black and white portraits of the dad-of-four show him smiling and laughing, as he pulls faces for the camera.
The literature festival, held annually in Hay-on-Wye, Powys, Wales, shared the snaps on Instagram and paid tribute to the late star. The organisation penned: "Dr Michael Mosley, pictured here at Hay Festival Hay-on-Wye 2024. It was a privilege to share his work on our stages. Our thoughts go to his family, friends and colleagues."
Past comments Michael made about the prospect of dying have also resurfaced in light of his heartbreaking passing. In 2016, Michael explained that a test he'd done on Horizon - his BBC Two show - had found he had a partial blockage in one of his coronary arteries, and went on to discuss patterns of death in his family.
"It was a bit freaky and I’m still aware of it," he said of the test. And he added, heartbreakingly: "No male in my family has made it beyond 72."
Michael added to the Guardian: "That’s quite a scary thought, isn’t it? Sometimes. I suspect I’m a lot healthier than my dad was."
Michael's father was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in his fifties and later died of complications relating to the disease, including early-onset dementia and heart failure. This bereavement sparked Michael's passion for healthy living, as well as his own diabetes diagnosis in 2012. Michael was able to reverse his own type 2 diabetes through his now extremely popular intermittent fasting diet.
Michael's wife Dr Clare said it is “devastating” to have lost her “wonderful, funny, kind and brilliant husband” as she confirmed he has been found dead on the Greek island of Symi after going missing on Wednesday, 5 June.
His body was discovered in a rocky area beside Agia Marina on Symi on Sunday, 9 June, after an extensive search led by emergency workers, around a 30-minute walk from the village of Pedi where Michael was last seen on CCTV. The 67-year-old TV personality was with his wife and friends at Agios Nikolaos beach on Wednesday, before going alone for a walk to the centre of the island.
In a statement from his agent to the PA news agency, Dr Clare said: “I don’t know quite where to begin with this. It’s devastating to have lost Michael, my wonderful, funny, kind and brilliant husband. We had an incredibly lucky life together. We loved each other very much and were so happy together.
"I am incredibly proud of our children, their resilience and support over the past days. My family and I have been hugely comforted by the outpouring of love from people from around the world. It’s clear that Michael meant a huge amount to so many of you.
“We’re taking comfort in the fact that he so very nearly made it. He did an incredible climb, took the wrong route and collapsed where he couldn’t be easily seen by the extensive search team. Michael was an adventurous man, it’s part of what made him so special.”
She said the family are also “so grateful to the extraordinary people on Symi” who worked “tirelessly” to help find Michael, with some working from dawn until dusk unasked. Clare added: “I feel so lucky to have our children and my amazing friends. Most of all, I feel so lucky to have had this life with Michael. Thank-you all.”
Michael's four children joined their mother in Symi earlier this week to help with the search effort. His body was discovered around mid-morning on Sunday beneath a fence that runs around a bar on Agia Marina beach, which is surrounded by hilly, rocky terrain.
Police arrived at Agia Marina around 20 minutes after the body was discovered about 90 metres from the coastline. Firefighters arrived at the marina just after 2pm local time and took the body away from the island on a stretcher on a boat.
On Saturday, an emergency services helicopter spent hours flying across the mountainous search site on Symi between Pedi bay and Agia Marina, and hovered over the spot where the body was later found. Agia Marina bar manager Ilias Tsavaris, 38, first saw the body alongside journalists after the island’s mayor “saw something” by the fence of the bar and alerted staff.
He said: “They saw it with the boat. The mayor came and saw something so that is when they called me and said ‘Hey they saw something go and check there’. They called me, they said ‘You know what we saw something from far away, can you go and check’, so I went there.
“When I walked up I saw something like a body to make sure. You don’t see a dead body everyday, it is not a warzone, it’s summer, you are supposed to have fun and swimming. He came from Pedi OK, and he walked not through the restaurant. If he had walked through there (the bar) we would have checked the cameras.”
The search effort had been widespread, operating in dangerous conditions and high temperatures, and included police, firefighters with drones, Greek Red Cross workers, divers, a search dog and a helicopter.
Greek authorities shifted their focus on Saturday after CCTV footage from a house at the edge of a small marina in Pedi showed the presenter walking towards a mountainous path at about 2pm local time on Wednesday. New footage released on Saturday also appeared to show Michael walking unimpeded with an umbrella near to the marina.
Michael first trained as a doctor in London before moving into the world of media, becoming a presenter, documentary maker, author and columnist. During his career he presented a host of science programmes and films including the series Trust Me, I’m A Doctor, which looked at healthcare in Britain, and hosted Radio 4 podcast Just One Thing, where he revealed tips to help improve your health.
The managing editor of Michael's publisher, Octopus Publishing Group, remembered him as a “brilliant, warm, funny and kind man”.
Anna Bond added: “He dedicated his time to educating and empowering millions across the world to live longer, healthier lives and his powerful legacy is a gift that will live on as viewers, listeners and readers continue to enjoy a better quality of life via his books and his journalism, TV programmes, the Fast 800 community, and his BBC podcast Just One Thing.”
