VINNIE JONES ON LOSING THE LOVE I knew it was the end, I was cuddling and kissing her. I just kept saying: I love you, I love you
– was first diagnosed with cancer in 2013.
She was treated at Cedars Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles before living out her final days in the couple’s Hollywood home. They had moved to Tinseltown after Vinnie went from footie hero to movie favourite following his breakthrough role in Guy Ritchie’s Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels 21 years ago.
Vinnie told the Sunday Mirror: “She would sleep a lot, wake up, then fall asleep again. The nurses and doctors said, ‘ Talk away, she is listening to you’.
“There was one moment when we were talking about her horse and she was fast asleep, then all of a sudden she put her hands up like she was riding a horse. She was stroking her pillow, as if stroking the horse’s mane.”
Choked up, Vinnie’s voice cracked before he continued: “It proved to us she was listening. Then when she started asking for morphine, we knew that was the countdown.”
Over her final weeks Kayley slept in Tanya’s room to care for her. Vinnie slept in a room opposite and he and Tanya would blow each other kisses.
Describing the moments before she died on July 6, Vinnie went on: “I woke to hear this coughing. I had read a lot of books – you don’t want to but you do – and I knew what that coughing meant. I flew up to her room. She was gasping for breath for 25 minutes. We got everyone in the room – Kaley, her parents, her brother. We were all there. The nurse was giving her morphine.
PEACEFUL
“We knew it was the end, we were cuddling her. I kissed her a lot and told her I loved her. I kept saying, ‘I love you, I love you’.”
Speaking through his tears, Vinnie added: “It was all very peaceful, then her gasps got less and less and she went quiet. I looked at the nurse and said, ‘Has she gone?’ And that was it.
“It all happened so quickly, you are not prepared for it. So we sat there for an hour with her. We were completely numb. It was as though she was still sleeping. But she was gone.
“When she finally went it felt like Tinker Bell had released from her. It felt like her spirit was moving in the room. I got peace from that.”
Later that night Vinnie received a sign from Tanya. “We were outside until about midnight but I was the last to go to bed,” he said. “With Tanya, she
OPENING HIS HEART ON LOSING HIS BELOVED TANYA