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Samantha Cameron reveals death of her son Ivan 'overshadowed everything' in her life

Samantha Cameron has told how the devastation of losing her son Ivan meant that everything else in the world became “meaningless” to her.

The former prime minister’s wife spoke about the grief she suffered following the death of the couple's eldest son when he was just six years old, saying it was more life-changing than moving into Downing Street.

Ivan, who died in 2009, suffered from Ohtahara syndrome, a rare form of epilepsy characterised by spasms, and cerebral palsy.

She reportedly welled up when she mentioned his name in a candid interview with The Times Magazine, as she spoke about coping with the heartache brought about by his untimely death and said it “overshadowed everything” in her life.

She said: “Ivan dying is such a massive thing that everything else is irrelevant. It just overshadows everything. What goes on in the outside world becomes meaningless.

“Like anyone else in my situation, I just kept going. You have to deal with it, because you have no choice.”

Having left No 10, Samantha, 45, this week launched her own fashion range under the name Cefinn - the first and last letters of her surname and the middle four representing the names of her four children Elwen, Florence, Ivan and Nancy

But she said Ivan's death, and the time while he was alive being treated in and out of hospitals, helped her deal with the unusual situations she faced as the wife of a prime minister.

She said: “Looking after our son prepared me for Dave being prime minister. I was used to living and operating in a way that’s not normal.

“We managed to talk to each other about his death, but we also tried to keep a routine going so we didn’t fall apart completely.”

She went on: “I didn’t want to forget about him. I was incapable emotionally of talking about him, but I felt awful being in a situation where I couldn’t talk about it.

“It is one of the reasons I am quite private; I can’t talk about it, but I can’t not talk about it. I still have four children and I think about him the whole time. It’s all so complex - nothing is ever black and white. There were so many emotions and that’s why grief is so hard.”

At their home in Notting Hill, she told how photos of Ivan still line the walls and that they often visit his grave as a family.

She explained: “Florence talks about him the whole time as though she knows him, when she never met him.

“It’s the biggest thing in my life. Being the prime minister’s wife was just a role. I let Westminster village do its thing and it went slightly over my head.”

She believes her son’s death had a similar effect on David in politics, making him a more “understanding” person.

Her work following Ivan’s passing stretched into weekly charity receptions at Number 10, where she met parents in a similar situation to the one they found themselves in.

She said: “People would ask for advice, but mainly it was knowing that other people were going through the same thing as you, so you don’t feel so alone and desperate. Just listening helped.”