The Strictly Come Dancing star issued an update on her Instagram story on Monday afternoon and admitted that she would eventually share what happened with her family dog Norman and how he died – but not before she could control her emotions.
On Sunday, June 30, Atkinson took to her Instagram to announce that Norman had died, which was accompanied by a touching video of the pup, along with a lengthy announcement.
Atkinson was flooded with support from her followers which didn’t go unnoticed by the former soap star, who took to her stories yesterday to thank everyone for their support and gave an update on how she was feeling.
Sitting on the floor alongside her other pup Ollie, she said: “Hey everybody, just to say thank you again. My hair has not been washed in days. Yeah. Norms obviously not here now, well he is just not in this shell.
“Although, the amount of feathers, white feathers, genuinely, so much happened over the last few days that I will tell you about when I can speak about it without crying, urm… yeah.
“But thank you for your messages, we are cracking on, so thank you.” (sic)
Gemma panned the camera round to her other dog Ollie laying by himself
She issued another update this morning after finding a video of baby Mia alongside Norman and captioned the post: “Been down a rabbit hole of old videos and found this.”
When announcing the news, the caption of the montage video read: “My beautiful boy Norman has passed away. My heart is broken. 12 years ago I made a promise to him that I would always take care of him and never allow him to be in pain or to suffer.
“Had I put off making the hardest decision of my life any longer I would have broken that promise. It’s hard to put into words how much Norman changed my life and made it so much better Simply by just being there.
“Throughout the good & bad experiences the last 12 years he’s been there with Ollie making everything ok. My most favourite weekends were spent having long walks exploring together, then home lay in bed cosy with them both watching a film while they snored away peacefully.
“I think I’ll miss that the most…That and the fact Norm was always the only one in the whole house to get up and come downstairs with me in the mornings no matter how early it was.
“My 5am club won’t be the same without his company. He was my first experience of being a mum and having someone other than myself to care for. He’s taught me a lot.
“I believe he was always meant to be my dog. I feel so sad for Ollie who’s now wondering where Norman is. Smelling him but not being able to see or play with him will be confusing.”
“I’m beyond sad for Mia. Normans woken her up by going into her room and pinching her Snuggie almost every day of her life. She’s never known him or Ollie to not be here. Her first best friend. And so close to her 5th Birthday.”
She admitted to looking through old videos of Norman
She went on to add that grief of a loved one is “the price we pay for loving them so much,” and shared how much she loved Norman: “I’m going to love you, miss you and remember you forever.
“Until we meet again Norman… Go and run again and have some fun up there with my dad. You’re such a good boy.”
