Jane McDonald was 'sick with fear' after 'losing everything'

Jane McDonald has told OK! magazine she 'felt sick' after 'losing everything' earlier in her career
-Credit: (Image: BANG Showbiz)


Jane McDonald has opened up about the tougher times in her life, revealing how she "felt sick" after "losing everything" earlier in her career. The 'Loose Women' star has detailed how getting everything back after what looked like a successful career in TV and selling out shows across the world has made her a much stronger and resilient person.

The breakdown of her marriage to her ex-husband and manager Henrik Brixen in 2002, saw her move back in with her mum June, when she was aged 40.

Speaking candidly to OK!, the now 61-year-old star said: "I’ve had a few sticky moments, and I’ve taken a lot of risks in my life, but I don’t do fear any more. I’ve been there, I’ve seen it, I’ve done it. I’ve got the T-shirt, I’ve washed it, I’ve dried it – and then I’ve got another. [Back then] I thought, ‘I’ve had a chance at this [career] and it’s gone, but I’ll get it back.'

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Jane has had several career highlights, including her 2010 sell-out date at the London Palladium and the BAFTA-winning ‘Cruising With Jane McDonald’ in 2017. But the star has admitted losing her husband Eddie Rothe in in 2021 and her mother in 2018 were her “lowest” moments.

Jane said: “The two guiding lights in my life were Ed and my mother, and I suppose losing both of them so quickly together was the hardest thing I’ve ever been through." The 'Let The Light In' author has shared her emotional journey through grief and her approach to finding happiness again. She remarked: "But I’ve joined a club of so many people who were in my position. I say to anybody now, ‘Don’t wallow for too long.’ [Grief] takes a while, and it will creep up on you when you least expect it, but if you can chase joy as much as you can, it’s allowed."

Highlighting a common feeling among those grieving, she added, "You don’t have to feel guilt if you’re laughing. Because we do. We think, ‘I can’t possibly feel happy because I’ve lost them,’ but we have to live the life that they wanted for us. Otherwise, what was the point? "

She explained how she finds comfort today, stating: "So I’ve taken every bit of wisdom from my mother - and she had lots of it - and all the love and all that fantastic relationship I had with Ed and I celebrate it now, I take them with me.

"It’s a way of accepting that you cannot change what’s happened, but taking all that with you and moving forward. Not moving on, because that means you’re leaving them behind, but moving forward with them in your heart."