Linda & Anne Nolan
Linda and Anne Nolan have been to hell and back – but as they say, it’s made them appreciate life more
As sisters Anne and Linda Nolan, of the famous girl group, say in their moving new book, Stronger Together, ‘Cancer has blighted and haunted the Nolan family for more than 20 years’. Both sisters found themselves fighting it again, during the pandemic and, of course, they lost a sister, actress Bernie, to the vicious disease in 2013, aged just 52. But with that Nolan fighting spirit we know so well – onwards they go, enjoying every day, as they know how precious life is. And they want their new book to help others, writing: ‘ We hope it brings comfort to know that you’re not alone in your struggles.’ Here, Anne, 70, and Linda, 62, talk about being ‘Chemo Sisters’, and why the supportive Nolan clan is like ‘the cavalry’…
ANNE – ‘We’ve been through every emotion’
How are you doing, Anne?
Not 100 per cent – but 100 per cent better than I was! It’s not been a year since I started my treatment. But it’s curable. And my hair’s growing back, which is great!
In the book you recount going through chemo with Linda – was that a help?
So much. I had breast cancer 20 years ago – but I could be with my family. This time, no. My oncologist said, if you get this virus, it could be fatal. But it was great to do chemo alongside Linda. Cancer is horrendous – but together, it made our bond stronger. We’ve been through every emotion. I just hope our kids escape this disease.
Was filming The Nolans Go Cruising early last year the calm before the storm?
It was. By the time it finished, the pandemic was taking hold, we had to come home and isolate for a week. Then, just a week later, I was diagnosed with my cancer, and a week after that, Linda. It was surreal.
And is it bittersweet, knowing your cancer is curable, and Linda’s isn’t?
I do feel sorry. Nevertheless, Linda’s is treatable – she could live another 15 to 20 years. I could get run over by a bus before then! Meanwhile, we grab life with both hands. Cancer has made me appreciate life – I try to live every day like it’s my last.
And you and Linda try to have a laugh…
Oh god, I remember a shoot, and the photographer asked us to put our heads together. As we were both bald at the time, our heads stuck together! We just burst out laughing. And we wind each other up. Like, I had a bad reaction to chemo, and Linda turned and went, ‘Trust you, always the bloody centre of attention!’
Anything you want to do, now things are looking up?
Well, we had an amazing family holiday to Orlando about 25 years ago now.
I’d love to go back with my sisters, our brothers and the kids.
LINDA – ‘I’m doing what makes me happy’
Linda, how are things?
Good. My hair’s growing back! I’ve just dyed it super-blonde. Why not? Anne and I were saying the other day, for the first time in a while, we can feel the wind in our hair. I’ve had cancer three times but this time, I didn’t wear a wig, I took a leaf out of Bernie’s book – ‘I’m bald, deal with it!’
Tell us about Stronger Together…
Anne and I shared our experiences individually – much as I hate to use the ‘j’ word (!), our journeys were different.
I went back to 2006, when I had cancer the first time, and my husband Brian’s death, in 2007… It was tough,
but I wanted to show the good and bad. Cancer’s not always, ‘I’m being brave’.
But you do talk about having a new ‘sense of freedom’ now…
Yes, say I was organising a party for Coleen and a big TV company called about doing a show in Dublin – now, I’ll say, ‘No, sorry’. A while ago, I’d have dropped everything. I’ve got this new voice. My cancer isn’t curable, so I don’t know how long I’ve got. That’s not melodrama, it’s truth. So, I’m doing what makes me happy.
How’s it been, dealing with illness during Covid?
Difficult! My late husband used to call us sisters ‘the cavalry’ – he’d say, when anything happens, you come together and deal with it as a family. When Anne was diagnosed, we stood outside her garden wall waving, saying, ‘We love you.’ Normally, we’d be in there – hugging, laughing, crying. But doing chemo together was a great help.
Do you think, ‘why us’?
Oh, we want to scream sometimes. But ‘why me, why us?’ No. There are families out there that have got it worse than us. These are the cards we’ve been dealt, so we get on with it.
Anne says you’re ‘made of Teflon’…
Bless, but I also have moments when I’m soft as putty! There are times I wake up and think, ‘I don’t want to die’ – but mostly I go, ‘ Yes, I’ve got another day, now!’
You guys use humour a lot, in dark times…
And it can be close to the knuckle! My nephew might go, ‘How are you, Auntie Lynn?’ I’ll go, ‘I’ve got cancer, thanks, how are you?!’ It’s how we deal with it. It’s a very Irish thing. As is the importance of family. As I say to my nieces and nephews, you’ll never have a better friend than your sister.
Your siblings must worry about you two…
Coleen told me she filmed three hours of Piers Morgan’s Life Stories – they cut it down to one. She was sobbing so hard at one point, they had to stop filming. For Coleen, Denise and Maureen, it’s scary – might they have the rogue gene? They’re bereft we’ve had to go through this. But we’re a team – always will be.
So, plans for the future?
I want my nieces and nephews over for sleepovers and naughty treats. I made my own gin recently, and we’re now looking at doing a spiced rum for Father’s Day!
● Stronger, Together: How We’re Living While Fighting (Ebury Press, £16.99) is out now.