It’s been two months since Sir Tom Jones suffered the devastating loss of his wife of 59 years, Melinda ‘Linda’ Trenchard, and now the singer is opening up on the moment he found out about her terminal cancer.
“We knew each other since we were kids. It was fast, she had cancer,” the 76-year-old singer told Mail Online.
“I got the call that it was terminal, my heart stopped. I flew back to Los Angeles, and she had a week left.”
Following the death of his childhood sweetheart, the Sex Bomb singer has made the tough call to return to the stage.
Sir Tom and his wife Linda were together for 60 years before her death in April.
Explaining that it was his wife’s wish for him to continue with his passion, Sir Tom said, “I have to be strong. First of all, I love singing. I mean, I get out of bed and I sing. I can’t help it.”
He continued, “Linda wanted me to keep singing, she said not to stop. She was a strong woman.”
Earlier this month, the multi-award-winning artist broke down in front of fans at the Literary Hay Festival.
Speaking about dealing with the grief following Linda’s death, Sir Tom told the audience it was “the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life.”
Watch as Sir Tom Jones gushes about his wife Linda, despite their unconventional marriage. Post continues below.
In a love story worthy of the ages, Tom and Linda fell for another in their hometown of Pontypridd, Wales, when they were just 16 years old.
They wed in 1957 and share 59-year-old son Mark together.
However, it wasn’t always smooth sailing for the pair, with the It’s Not Unusual hitmaker confessing to having a wandering eye.
The singer broke down at Hay Festival earlier this month while discussing his wife’s death.
“[The affairs were] never discussed, I was never put on the spot,” the star explained to talk show host Jonathan Ross.
“Linda is a wonderful person and she would never put me on the spot. She loves being married to me and I love being married to her.”
Catch a rare glimpse of Sir Tom and his wife Linda out in public below.
