TARA: DEATH COMES TO US ALL.. I’VE ACCEPTED THAT NOW
TARA Palmer-Tomkinson clutched the hand of a sick pal in hospital and made the starkest of comments.
The tragic socialite and TV star, painfully thin and herself battling a brain tumour, said she did not fear dying.
It was just weeks ago. As her pal Kirsty Shaw-Rayner lay recovering following a lifesaving operation, Tara then predicted her own early death, saying calmly: “It comes to all of us – I’ve accepted that.”
The 45-year-old, who was found dead at home last Wednesday, also told how she was seeing a spiritualist and reading the poetry of John Keats.
Tara, who battled drug addiction for years, had visited Kirsty – who runs an events company – in intensive care at London’s Prince Grace Hospital.
She selflessly helped nurse Kirsty, 43, back to health despite being left tormented by her own problems. Tara, looking frail and having not eaten for days, put on a brave face as she tried to lift her pal’s spirits.
Yesterday a source told the Sunday Mirror: “Tara hadn’t spoken to Kirsty for a long time but she came to see her when she knew how ill she was.
“The visit was completely unexpected. She was by her bedside trying to cheer Kirsty up. But Tara didn’t look well at all, she was very, very skinny and there was clearly something not right but she was being incredibly brave and putting others before herself.
“There was only one moment when she was talking about her life and she said: ‘Death comes to all of us, I’ve accepted that. It’s all about the journey you choose to take. That’s the only thing you can control’.
“Tara was very concerned and worried about things, but she didn’t go on about her own problems. That was what she was like, very selfless. She was tired of being the victim. “She didn’t want to be a burden to pals so she turned to alternative therapists and in the last couple of months she was in touch with a spiritual healer and a pyschic. “Towards the end she had a lot of self hate and anxiety. She got it into her head that people had been using her. “Everyone wanted to be part of the Tara party and when she realised some people were using her, that was very harsh. The realisation she was growing up hit her hard. She didn’t get married or have c children, which was very sad. She was turning to these therapies for support.”
The source also revealed how poetry had been a source of comfort for the TV star in her final months – and how she would quote her favourite poem Ode To Pysche.
In his 1819 sonnet Keats imagines that he has seen the winged goddess Psyche in the arms of Cupid, the god of love.
In the ode, Keats vows to b build a temple to Psyche in his mind. He writes: “Yes, I will be thy priest, and build a fane, In some untrodden region of my mind.”
The source said: “Tara avidly read poetry and found a lot of solace in it.”
Yesterday, friends and family were still coming to terms with the death of Tara.
Her body was discovered by her cleaner at her beloved penthouse flat in Earls Court, West London. A death notice posted by her
Tara didn’t go on about problems... she didn’t want to be a victim CLOSE SOURCE ON TV STAR’S OUTLOOK ON LIFE