Harry Redknapp has said he could not handle thinking about his wife Sandra dying as she battled sepsis last year.

The football manager’s wife of 52 years fell ill with potentially fatal sepsis in 2018, shortly before he entered the I’m A Celebrity jungle.

Talking to Piers Morgan for his Life Stories programme on ITV, Redknapp said he almost quit the reality show to be with her.

“I nearly pulled out,” he said. “I said look, obviously I’m not going to go to Australia and do a show if she’s not well.

“It was scary. If she hadn’t of got the ambulance that night she would have been in desperate trouble. So that was the saver, really.”

Talking about whether Sandra was close to death, Redknapp said: “I couldn’t think about that… I couldn’t.

“Thinking about it, I couldn’t handle that. I just couldn’t.”

Piers Morgan
Piers Morgan (Jonathan Brady/PA)

The 72-year-old – who went on to be crowned King of the Jungle – said once the pair were reunited he “couldn’t let her go”.

“I grabbed hold of her and I just didn’t want her to go at the end,” he said.

Piers Morgan’s Life Stories airs on Saturday at 9.35pm on ITV.