The broadcaster and Childline founder died on September 30 at the age of 86, following a diagnosis of stage four lung cancer in 2023.
Her daughter, Rebecca Wilcox, spoke about her mother’s final moments and the impact of her loss during an appearance on ITV’s Good Morning Britain.
Dame Esther Rantzen (Image: PA)
Ms Wilcox said: “It’s not a new thing to say, that it takes away. It takes away the body but she still had the mind. She still had the capacity to choose, but her body let her down.
“She wanted to avoid her memory being eviscerated for us because she said to me in the last few days, this is exactly what I wanted to avoid.
“I didn’t want you to see me like this.
“I want you to remember me like this, this gorgeous person that gets arrested for bat soup and starts incredible charities and supports children and is the youngest person at heart you would ever meet, and that’s what she wanted to avoid.”
Dame Esther had become a vocal advocate for assisted dying and had arranged to travel to the Swiss right-to-die organisation Dignitas, but was too unwell to make the journey.
Ms Wilcox said: “She was ready to go.
“She had the date, but the thing about Dignitas is you have to go before you’re actually ready to go.
“It’s a privileged death that she actually wasn’t able to take up in the end because we didn’t know that was her last chance.”
Reflecting on her loss, Ms Wilcox said: “Grief is really hard, and it’s a piece of work and it is the price you pay for having loved somebody, and god, I love mum.
“I will miss her more than I really ever thought was possible and even though we knew it was coming, it still sideswiped us.”
Dame Esther launched Childline in 1986.