Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Keep your spirits high with help from Gin-da Nolan
Diary Editor LINDA Nolan is joining George Clooney, Rita Ora and Ryan Reynolds in the celebrity drinks industry, and releasing her own range of gin.
The 61-year-old star has named her brand Hudson’s, in honour of her late husband Brian Hudson, who died in 2007.
While Brian was more of a whisky drinker, Hudson’s Pink Passion Fruit & Watermelon Gin is her favourite, she said.
Linda, who has secondary breast cancer and takes eight chemotherapy tablets daily, said: “Some of my tablets say avoid alcohol, and I do avoid it – but it just bumps into me every now and again. My cancer is incurable. I’m not not going to drink for the rest of the life I’ve got left.”
Linda’s sisters, who she sings with as The Nolans, have enjoyed samples of her gins.
“The girls are delighted – they’ve all had a little sip, although I said to them, ‘Come on, girls, it’s a business, we can’t drink the profits’,” she joked.
Linda was determined not to let cancer stop her from starting her own business. She added: “I’ve always thought I should get a business other than singing, and because Covid has decimated showbusiness, it’s taken up some of the boredom of sitting around.”
Linda’s cancer medication is causing neuropathic pain and speech problems.
She said: “The chemo tablets make me stutter and that’s hilarious – it sounds like I’m drunk, like I’ve been drinking my gin.”
For more details go to hudsons-spirits.com
The dad of five spent lockdown with all seven members of his family, though eldest son Jack is now off on active service as a Royal Marine.
He says: “It’s like running a restaurant seven days a week where no one wants to go home – it’s just constantly, ‘What’s for dinner, Dad?’”
The chef particularly enjoyed spending time with baby Oscar, who turns two in April. “It’s quality time. I must’ve gone through about 150 diapers with Oscar. I can literally change a nappy now with my eyes closed and he’s become my best mate.”
He and wife Tana, 46, have spent lockdown watching The Crown. “It’s fascinating going to Buckingham Palace and seeing all the ins and outs. And there’s stuff that in season one, two and three, I didn’t know existed on the build-up and the inside of the monarchy. I’ve been focusing on that.” FAMILY AFFAIR Gordon with kids Megan, Matilda, Jack,
Holly and wife Tana in 2016