SIR TOM DIDN’T WANT TO GET UP AFTER HIS WIFE’S DEATH
Star reveals how son helped him carry on
SIR Tom Jones has spoken about how his grief for his late wife Linda was so overwhelming at times 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 following her death after being urged by his son Mark.
In an exclusive Sunday Mirror interview, Sir Tom – who is judging The Voice final tonight – 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.
Sir Tom said there have been times when his grief was so overwhelming he could barely rally himself from bed.
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 has been his saviour.
Ahead of tonight’s The Voice final 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 line-up in 2015, when it aired on the BBC, 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 d but I’d like to do it.. I like it and they y know I do.”
Fellow coachess Jennifer Hudson n and will.i.am m have also told ITVV bosses they want t to return – withh only Bush frontman Gavin Rossdale saying he has yet to have talks.
It will be a blow to Sir Tom if his pal Gavin, 51, does not return.
The rocker has invited Sir Tom to take part in a cookery show he hopes will get picked up by a US network.
In the pilot episode Gavin prepares food as he interviews famous friends.
It hasn’t spurred Sir Tom to learn to cook. But it did cement their friendship.
Recalling a fun dinner they had in LA, he said: “Gavin cooked me a nice beef wellington and it got a bit boozy. But I don’t drink as much as I used to. We were talking – he is so calm. It’s not a front. He is very soothing. And all of a sudden, there’s the food!”
In the two-part final of The Voice, Sir Tom was last night rooting for his protégés Into The Ark as they competed against Michelle John, Mo Adeniran and Jamie Miller, of Pontprennau, Cardiff.
Sir Tom plans to have Into The Ark – fellow Welshmen Dane Lloyd, 20, and Taylor Jones, 25 – join him when he starts a nine-date UK tour in June.
He says he’s even open to singing one of their songs – and likes the idea of having his own record label to promote young artists.
With a huge focus on work Sir Tom has not contemplated 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.