Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
– COLEEN NOLAN ON DIVORCE
When Bernie and Linda died, it put life in perspective, made me think if I was happy.. now I hope we can both go forward
COLEEN Nolan says her sisters’ battles with breast cancer prompted her to call time on her marriage.
The Loose Women star revealed in yesterday’s Mirror that she is divorcing her husband of 10 years, Ray Fensome.
The couple, who have one daughter, Ciara, 16, are now living apart.
Speaking on the ITV panel show yesterday, Coleen said her decision was spurred on after her sister Linda, 58, was diagnosed with incurable secondary cancer last March, just four years after their sister Bernie died from the disease age 52.
Coleen said: “When Bernie passed away, and then Linda, all of those things put things into perspective and make you readdress if you’re happy.
“But hopefully we can now go forward, both of us, and be posi- tive and be great parents to Ciara.” The pair, together for 17 years, wed in 2007.
Coleen said being an agony aunt for Mirror readers also encouraged her to end her relationship. She said: “I get letters from women in a similar situation and was giving them advice: ‘Sometimes you’ve tried and it’s OK to move on.’
‘As I was saying it I was thinking, ‘I need to start listening to my own advice.’ I said at the beginning of last year we were having issues but hopefully would sort them and we have really, really tried.
“We were never ones to just go, ‘Oh let’s call it a day, we both tried.’
“It gets to a point where you think, ‘It’s not working, we can’t get back together.’ For the sake of both our future happiness and the kids, especially Ciara.” The emotional star, 52, said she is now trying to embrace a new chapter in her life. Fighting back tears, she said: “I’m trying to see it now, it is really sad.
“But it just happens and instead of sitting here or staying with someone because I’m scared of being on my own – do I want to be on my own at 53? – I’ve turned it around and gone, ‘It’s a new chapter, and that’s exciting in itself ’.” Coleen has sons Shane Jr, 29, and Jake, 25, with her ex-husband Eastenders actor Shane Richie. Yesterday, she told the Mirror she fought for her relationship with Ray “with every fibre of my being”. “Once you know your marriage is truly dead, you need to make your peace with that, bury the past and move on. After 17 years, together that’s what I’m about to do,” she said.