Two months on since the death of his wife, Sir Tom Jones' sense of loss is still profound. The iconic singer has opened up about the passing of Linda, his partner of 60 years, and the moment he learned the devastating news that she had terminal cancer.
"We knew each other since we were kids," he told the Mail. "It was fast, she had cancer. I got the call that it was terminal, my heart stopped. I flew back to Los Angeles, and she had a week left."
Sir Tom said his "heart stopped" when he heard his wife had terminal cancer
Sir Tom immediately cancelled the entire leg of his Asian tour to be with his wife, and he remained by her side until she passed away in April. He recently made the decision to return to the stage this summer. "I have to be strong," he explained. "First of all, I love singing. I mean, I get out of bed and I sing. I can't help it.
"Linda wanted me to keep singing, she said not to stop. She was a strong woman."
Earlier this month, Sir Tom broke down in tears as he appeared in public for the first time since the death of Lady Linda. He wept as he reflected on his 59 years of married life at the Hay Festival, and insisted that the childhood sweethearts had enjoyed "a solid marriage that nothing could shake".
Sir Tom and Lady Linda had been married since 1957
The star said that recovering from the death of his wife was "the hardest thing I've ever done in my life". He revealed: "I was in the Philippines, that was when I got the call, that it was terminal. I had to stop. So I flew back to Los Angeles and she had a week left in the hospital."
Sir Tom said that he knew "she'd always been very important to me, always". But, he added: "Now I realise that she might have been the most important thing in my life. I realise even more now, how important she was to me."