Yahoo News NHS worker staying in Toff's home helped her family navigate COVID-19 death
Georgia Toffolo has revealed sad family news with an unexpectedly sweet twist in an upcoming podcast interview.
Speaking on the latest episode of White Wine Question Time, due for release this Friday, the former Made In Chelsea star revealed her grandfather Umberto Toffolo, who had underlying health conditions, died from COVID-19 recently.
“When [this all started], I thought that's not going to come near any of us lot. Not my family or my friends,” she told host Kate Thornton.
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“We knew he had it 10 days before he did pass away,” Georgia said, going on to reveal that her grandmother has also been recovering from the virus.
She said: “My grandmother actually caught it off him in hospital. I spoke to her yesterday and thank goodness she has turned a corner and she's good now, so we're just concentrating on making sure she's alright.
“I can't believe how many people close to me – and friends of mine and their family members – have had it. It really doesn't discriminate.”
The sweet twist in Georgia’s take comes as a result of a good deed: She currently has a junior doctor living rent-free in her flat, which is close to the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital.
“I basically saw that loads of people were getting moved, because if you put your name forward to work on a COVID-19 ward, you don't know where you're going to be allocated,” she said. Toff decided, thanks to her “guilt of just never being able to do enough”, to offer up her empty flat.
Georgia lives in a rented flat nearby, while waiting for planning permissions to come through on the first home she has purchased. She offered up her flat via her social media accounts and was “flooded with messages”, eventually finding a junior doctor who had just been kicked out of his home by his scared flatmates.
“He'd been kicked out of his flat because his housemates didn't work to catch coronavirus off him,” she said. “I don't know what you think about that, but for me it made me quite sad.”
While Georgia is allowing him to stay in her flat rent-free for as long as he wants, she said he’s become quite a good friend and has already returned the favour – and not just by de-weeding her garden one afternoon.
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“He was a source of comfort when my family was going through all we have been with regards to the coronavirus,” she also revealed. “We weren't allowed in the hospital and you know, he said, ‘Oh, if you've got any questions…’ and it's been so lovely.”
Asked by Kate whether the junior doctor might make for a good Mr Toff, Georgia laughed awkwardly and said there was no romance on the cards. Thankfully the Devon-born star has someone else who is keeping her spirits high – new puppy Monty, who she got two weeks before lockdown.
“Having my little puppy has just been really important,” she told Kate. “I think that's probably why I'm sailing through this and I just keep on thinking that all we've got to do is stay at home.”
Hear Georgia Toffolo talk about the simple pleasures she’s enjoying during lockdown, why she can’t wait to have a Big Mac and her new career as an author. Listen now on iTunes and Spotify.
