It's been a difficult few months for Jane McDonald.
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On 26 March she marked the one-year anniversary since the death of her beloved partner, Ed Rothe, who passed away from lung cancer.
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Ed and Jane had been friends as teenagers and reunited romantically in 2008, following her split from second husband Henrik Brixen.
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On Christmas Eve that same year, Ed went down on one knee and popped the question. Writing in her autobiography, Riding The Waves, Jane shared a touching detail from his proposal.
Jane and Ed got engaged in December 2008
"Suddenly, Ed cleared his throat and put his hand in his pocket, 'Jane, you are definitely the one for me, and I should have done this 26 years ago,' he said. 'Will you marry me?'" she recalled, via the Mirror.
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"I was so overwhelmed that I started crying. Then Ed started crying! People around us were mortified - thinking we'd split up," Jane admitted.
The star spoke about Ed's proposal in her autobiography
The couple never did marry but were completely devoted to each other.
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Announcing the news of Ed's death in 2021, a post on Jane's social media accounts read: "It is with immense sadness that we share the news that Jane's beloved life partner, Ed, passed away on Friday 26th March.
Ed sadly passed away in March 2021
"He had been battling lung cancer for the last few months. We would like to thank everyone for all their help and support during this very difficult time, especially the NHS staff and the wonderful team at The Wakefield Hospice."
Jane has been married twice before; first in 1987 to a man named Paul for one year. She met her second husband, Henrik Brixen, while filming BBC show The Cruise, with Henrik working as a plumber on board the ship at the time.
Jane with her second husband, Henrik
"Henrik tried his very, very best and he was brilliant at what he did, but he didn’t know the industry," Jane revealed to the Mirror back in 2018.
"We'd come to a point where Henrik had made quite a few enemies and he said, 'If I don’t leave you, you are never going to have a career.' And that is why I never talk about Henrik in a bad light at all because he was the one that walked out of the marriage to save my career."
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