Cristiano Ronaldo says he keeps his son’s ashes with him at home

By Ben Church and Sammy Mngqosini, CNN

Manchester United forward Cristiano Ronaldo says he keeps his son’s ashes with him at his home and describes his death as the “worst” moment of his life.

The Portugal star had announced in October 2021 that he and his partner, Georgina Rodríguez, were expecting twins. In December, they announced they were expecting a boy and a girl.

In April, though, the couple announced their baby son had died.

In the latest installment of Ronaldo’s TalkTV interview with Piers Morgan released on Tuesday, the superstar opened up about the impact that tragedy had on him and his family.

“[My son’s] ashes are with me, like my Daddy, they are here in the house. It is something that I want to hold for the rest of my life and not throw to the ocean or to the sea,” said Ronaldo, whose father died in 2005.

“I keep [them] with me. They are next to my dad. I have a small church downstairs, a chapel, and I keep my daddy and my son there.”

When announcing their son’s death on social media, Ronaldo and Rodríguez wrote at the time: “Only the birth of our baby girl gives us the strength to live this moment with some hope and happiness.”

In his latest interview, Ronaldo explained how much he struggled dealing with the difficulty of simultaneously mourning his son while also celebrating his newborn daughter.

“It’s crazy. I tried to explain sometimes to my family and even my close friends. I say, ‘I never felt to be happy and sad in the same moment.’ I never felt. It is hard to explain,” Ronaldo said.

“It’s so difficult. It’s — you don’t know if you cry or you don’t know if you smile. Because it’s something that you don’t know how to react. You don’t know what to do, to be honest,” he said.

Despite dealing with the tragic news off the field, Ronaldo quickly returned to the Manchester United team. He said dealing with a family tragedy while playing at the top level was tough for everyone.

“Probably the worst moments that I passed through my life, since my father died,” he said.

“When you have a kid, you expect that everything will be normal, and you have that problem, it’s hard, you know, as human being that I am.

“We had quite difficult moments because we don’t understand why it happened to us. It was difficult, to be honest. It was very, very difficult to understand what’s going on in that period of our life.

“As you know, the football carries on there, so fast, many competitions, the football doesn’t stop. We had many, many competitions.

“And to pass through in that moment was probably the most difficult moment that I have in my life. Me and my family, especially Gio [Georgina Rodriguez], that was tough.”

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