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Tom Jones breaks down about wife’s death
Sir Tom Jones broke down in tears in his first public appearance since the death of his wife, Lady Melinda Rose Woodward.
The 75-year-old music legend made a public appearance at the literary Hay Festival and wept as he reflected on his 59 years of married life. He told the audience how being with her during her death was “the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life.”
“We were married for 59 years, we knew each other since we were kids. It was fast, she had cancer. I was doing an Asian tour, in the Philippines and I got the call that it was terminal – my heart stopped.
“She’s always been very important to me, throughout my life, now I realise that she might have been the most important thing in my life,” he said.
The couple married when they were just 16 and despite Jones’ many public infidelities throughout their marriage, they remained together.
Despite this though, Jones revealed he never thought his marriage would end.
Breaking down in tears, he said, “No. Never. Never crossed my mind; it didn’t cross her mind. It was solid. We had a solid marriage that nothing could shake and we both felt that.”
He added, “I felt very lucky to have fallen in love at an early age. We were teenagers. We fell in love, not just in lust. A lot of teenagers fall in lust and then it doesn’t last. But we knew this thing was forever, for as long as we would be alive. That’s how strong the marriage was.”
After Linda’s death, Jones was unsure whether he could go ahead with his European tour, but said his wife insisted he keep singing.
He said: “I have to do it. When Linda passed away it hit me so hard I didn’t know whether I could or not, I really didn’t. I said, ‘Linda I don’t know what I’m going to do.’ She could see I was devastated, and I was. She said ‘Don’t worry, you’ll be alright. Don’t worry about it. Just go forward’."
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