LINDA NOLAN
LINDA Nolan looks in the mirror and sees a woman ravaged by grief.
But 10 years after losing the love of her life, the singer today reveals she is finally ready to move on – by undergoing a fourhour op to transform her face.
It comes as she has just had her first kiss since husband Brian died.
Linda believes it’s a sign – after years of pining for her soulmate – that she is finally ready to face the world again. And she can’t wait for her surgery on Wednesday.
Yet Linda, 57, knows her first battle will be to face TV star sister Coleen, who is famously against cosmetic work.
Linda avoided telling Coleen before she entered the Celebrity Big Brother house – and knows she will be furious when she comes out to find a whole new sister.
However, after years of heartbreak etched on her face, Linda insists going under the knife will be worth it.
Linda – who still carries a small urn containing some of Brian’s ashes in her handbag – tells the Sunday Mirror: “I look into the mirror and I see sadness looking back at me and that’s no longer how I feel inside.
“My face has been through a lot with me and I can see that. I look so old, worn and drained and just so, so sad.
“Ten years ago I was happy and I looked happy and I want to look like that Linda again. I want to look the way I feel and I’m really excited to see the results.”
LASER
Linda’s family and friends insist she doesn’t need a facelift but are supporting her decision. Coleen, 51, is the only Nolan sister unaware of the surgery – involving skin tightening, laser resurfacing and a chemical peel.
“I decided not to tell Coleen as she was going into Big Brother and I know her views on surgery,” says Linda. “She would have told me not to be ridiculous, to have a word with myself and she would have made me promise not to do it.
“When she sees my new face I’m sure she’ll have a couple of choice words to say! But then she’ll be supportive.”
Linda has contemplated surgery for a year, researching the best clinic in London and undergoing several consultations.
“Many doctors have touched my face and said: ‘ Yes we have jowls here’ and I thought God, in another life I would chin them,” she laughs.
“I smoked for 22 years – I have lines around my mouth I hate and my chin is a problem too.
“The consultant said my forehead and eyes were good for laser resurfacing rather than invasive cutting and that’s why I’m opting for the lower facelift, along with the extreme skin peel. But I am scared – it’s four hours of surgery.”
Linda’s first experience of cosmetic surgery came with a breast reconstruction in 2010 after battling cancer. She admits to being “terrified” and says she is a coward who is even scared of the dentist.
To add to her wobbles, she will be awake throughout surgery at a top cosmetic clinic in London’s plastic surgery mecca, Harley Street. She jokes: “If it does hurt they’ll know! I was given all the options and it’s definitely safer to be awake during the procedure, even though that’s scary. And it means I’ll heal faster.” The lower facelift will see incisions made around Linda’s ears, before the skin and musculature of her face is pulled back, tightening her neck and lower cheeks. The chemical facial peel will remove dead skin cells and several layers of skin around her mouth and eyes. Linda will take her mind off the £6,000 procedure by going out with her sister-inlaw on Tuesday to see Dreamgirls. She adds: “Then once my bandages are removed 48 hours after the op, we will head back home to Blackpool. “A friend is driving us so I don’t scare people on the train. God help anyone who encounters me going for a wee at the