‘When Linda passed away, I didn’t know if I would make it’
SIR Tom Jones has spoken about how his grief for his late wife Linda was so overwhelming at times that he could barely get out of bed – and how he feared he would not be able to carry on with his career.
The Welsh singing legend lost his childhood sweetheart and beloved partner of 59 years to lung cancer in April last year.
The star, who has said he still hears Linda’s voice and dreams about her, also told how he turned to a therapist in Los Angeles after her death, on the urging of his son Mark.
In an exclusive Sunday Mirror interview, Sir Tom said it gave him the strength to keep going.
He said: “Mark helped tremendously. He said, ‘There is this lady you should see.’ She counselled a lot of things. She said to me, ‘You have got to carry on. If you don’t, you will die.’
“I thought of my family, my son, my daughter and my grandchildren – all of that.”
Linda – full name Lady Melinda Rose Woodward – died at Cedars Sinai Hospital in LA on April 10 last year. Sir Tom and family were by 75-year-old Linda’s side.
In the weeks that followed he cancelled concerts and feared he would not be able to carry on with his career.
He said: “When my wife passed away, God bless her, I didn’t know whether I would make it.
“There were days when I felt I couldn’t get up. You don’t want to get out of bed to start with.”
His remarks come months after he told how he would dream about Linda, then wake up distraught when he realised she was not there next to him.
He said: “I hear her voice. I see her a lot at night. When I dream, she’s still here and then I wake up and she’s not – that’s the hardest.”
Sir Tom, 76, admits that staying busy saved him.
He said: “Time off would be death for me. The only time I’ll take off is when I die. I don’t take long periods of time off. I’m happier when I’m singing than not.”
His focus now is very much on work and he is already talking of a return to The Voice next year.
Sir Tom loves the revamped ITV version of the show. He was controversially axed from the BBC line-up in 2015 after four years on the panel.
Looking ahead to the next series, Tom said: “We are talking about it now, so it looks pretty positive. I’d hate to count my chickens before they’ve hatched, but I’d like to do it. I like it and they know I do.”
Fellow coaches Jennifer Hudson and will.i.am have also told ITV bosses they want to return – with only Bush frontman Gavin Rossdale saying he has yet to have talks.
With a huge focus on work, Sir Tom has not contemplated the prospect of a new romance.
He was linked to Elvis Presley’s exwife Priscilla, 71, earlier this year after the pair enjoyed a night out in London.
But he insists they are nothing more than long-term friends and that it’s too soon to consider dating.
And Linda, the love of his life, will never be far from his thoughts.