Andrew Strauss opens up on the loss of his wife Ruth and says it made him realise ‘time is limited’

Former England captain Andrew Strauss has opened up on the loss of his wife Ruth, who passed away four-and-a-half years ago to lung cancer.

Speaking to The Telegraph, Strauss opened up on his grief and admitted that losing his wife has shown him that time is limited as he looks to keep his loved ones happy.

He said: ‘Our time is limited, and therefore I need to be more conscious about what I do and don’t do. 

‘This might mean experiencing things that weren’t appealing to me before, or saying no to things even though I don’t want to let people down.

‘But most of all, it means keeping the people most important to me happy.’ 

Andrew Strauss lost his wife Ruth to lung cancer four-and-a-half years ago

The former England captain has opened up on his grief and sent a word of support to others 

Strauss bellieves that there is ‘still far too much of a taboo’ surrounding the subject of grief

Strauss continued to talk about grief as he urged others to open up more in a message of support for those struggling. 

‘It is still far too much of a taboo,’ he said. 

‘Many people feel very uncomfortable, not knowing what to say to those who are going through it. They shudder, almost wanting to pretend that it’s not going on. 

‘It’s absurd, because we’re all going to be touched by death in life. Grief still feels very beneath the surface to me. 

‘And that has to change, because otherwise there will be people devoid of support or knowledge. 

‘You can be in your own little room grieving, without knowing where to turn.’ 

The former England captain finalised by admitting that he still gets reminders of the tragedy but would be disappointed if he never felt upset.

‘You might have a setback, or you might hear a story that’s sad. It’s still there. I’ll be very disappointed if it ever gets to the stage that it’s not,’ he said.