Peter Andre thanks fans for their support as he marks the anniversary of his brother’s death

PETER Andre has thanked his fans for their support on the anniversary of his brother’s death.

Andrew died aged 54 after a long battle with kidney cancer in 2012.

Pete was left devastated by his death and today told his fans he was still finding it hard to comprehend.

After one of his followers tweeted him to say she was thinking of him, the singer replied: “Thank you very much. It's always going to be a tough day to get through.”

Andrew was diagnosed with kidney cancer in 2012 and Pete took time off from his hectic schedule to be with him.

Sadly he passed away in the December of that year, leaving a huge void in Pete’s life.

In August the father-of-four opened up about his devastation at losing his eldest sibling.

He told Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield on This Morning: “We are so close that the pain is as great whoever it is and it happened to be our eldest brother, who was quite young, and it tore us apart.

“We have not to this day three, four years later sat down as a family and talked about it.

“We just sort of move it away because it literally is still so raw.”

Phil also asked the Mysterious Girl singer about how much he struggled to write about Andrew's death and funeral in his latest book, Between Us, and Pete admitted he almost couldn't do it.

The star, who also has three other brothers and a sister said: “We were nearly two weeks late delivering it because that was the only chapter I couldn’t do.

“My brother’s won’t read it. They said ‘bro we hope you don’t mind, we’re not being rude but we really don’t want to read it.’”

The star also opened up about how Andrew's death shook him so much he found himself at his lowest ebb in almost two decades.

He continued: “I plummeted, I went straight back to where I was 10/15 years ago when I had all the depression and panic attacks."

While his family haven't spoken openly about their joint grief, Peter has found a way to deal with his loss.

He said: “You do learn to live without but the hole is always there.”

Pete recently revealed Andrew's death and his subsequent grief almost took its toll on his relationship with second wife, Emily MacDonagh.

Writing in his OK! Magazine column, he said: “When I hit rock bottom I thought Emily was going to leave me. She's told me how difficult it was to be with me.

“I told her at the time 'go, you don't have to deal with me', but she said no way - that she was in it for the long haul.

“She was so matter-of-fact about staying...I knew I'd spend the rest of my life with her. If someone doesn't argue with you when you're at rock bottom and shutting them out, you can get through anything.”

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