Heartbroken – Jane McDonald: losing fiancé Ed & needing time alone
Devastated Jane McDonald has revealed she’s lost her fiancé Eddie Roth and needs to be left alone to get through a sad time…
Former Loose Woman Jane McDonald revealed the tragic news last Wednesday that her longterm partner, Eddie Rothe – the man she called ‘my Ed’ – had died in March, after a battle with lung cancer. He was 67.
Former drummer for Merseybeat group The Searchers, Eddie first dated the presenter in 1980 – before the pair found their way back to each other in 2008.
They got engaged after Eddie proposed that Christmas Eve, but never married.
Jane’s singing and TV career would often take her across the world – but she would always say Ed, to her, was ‘home’.
In a statement shared on Jane’s Twitter last Wednesday, it was revealed that Ed’s funeral had taken place that day.
‘It is with immense sadness that we share the news that Jane’s beloved long-term partner, Ed, passed away on Friday 26th March. He had been battling lung cancer for the last few months.
‘ We would like to thank everyone for all their help and support… especially the NHS staff and the wonderful team at The Wakefield Hospice. The funeral took place earlier today and we would please ask for your kindness in observing Jane’s privacy for her and Ed’s family at this sad time.’
The star’s social media was flooded with condolences from fans. One wrote, ‘Oh Jane, I’m so very sad to hear your sad news. Fly high Ed xx’
Another said: ‘Jane, there are no words but I just wanted to say I’m so so so sorry. Look after yourself XXXX.’
When TV favourite Jane, 58, first dated musician Eddie, she was just 17 – working at a furniture store and a pub in her hometown of Wakefield.
It was at that pub that she met Ed, who played a gig there with his band Liquid Gold – who’d just had a No.2 chart hit.
Of their first romance, Jane said in 2012, ‘I couldn’t believe it when the owner said the drummer had taken a fancy to me. He was a gorgeous pop star and I was a naive teenager from Yorkshire. But we went out for about 18 months.’
Jane went on to marry twice, and was single for seven years before a chance meeting with Ed at ITV studios, 28 years later, reignited their love.
Poignantly, just last year, Jane said she was thinking about marriage: ‘I do have the time, so it might be something I think about. It was always on the back-burner before.
‘But it’s been so long that I’ll have to ask him and see whether he still wants to do it!’
Sadly, that future together has been tragically cut short.
What a heart-breaking tale, of love lost, found and lost again.
Sending Jane all the love in the world.
‘He was a gorgeous pop star and I was a naive teenager’