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Heartbroken Tom Jones asks "Was I partly to blame?" over wife Linda's death

The Voice UK judge spoke of his grief

Published 6th Jan 2019
Last updated 6th Jan 2019

The Voice UK judge Sir Tom Jones has opened up about his grief and torment of losing his wife of 59 years, Lady Melinda Rose Woodward (known to him as Linda), almost three years ago. The star admitted that he blamed himself after her passing.

Linda passed away in April 2016 after a battle with cancer, and since then Tom revealed he has not been able to listen to Bob Dylan’s song, 'What Good Am I?’, due to the lyrics encouraging feelings of guilt.

Speaking to The Mirror, Tom said: "That song is the one I was scared of. She loved it. But the song is 'What good am I if I’m like all the rest, if I don’t just turn away when I see how you’re dressed'. It’s like 'Why couldn’t I have stopped it?'

I was reading into the lyrics thinking, 'Jesus Christ, was I partly to blame? Should I have woken up before?' You start to think 'What if I had forced her to go to the doctors?' Because she didn’t go."

He added: "You think, 'maybe I should have said she had to'. So that song is very touching."

Tom sought counselling after his wife's death and recalled a conversation with his therapist: "I saw a lady in LA, told her about the song and she said 'That’s the first one you should try, get the one you’re scared of over with'. I got some of my musicians together and that was the first step."

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Heartbroken Tom Jones asks "Was I partly to blame?" over wife Linda's death
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Tom added: "Time is a healer. When something like that happens it’s so devastating you don’t know how to deal with everything. But you give it time… things sink in and you realise this is the way it’s going to be."

Tom is currently a judge on the latest season of The Voice UK, starring alongside Olly Murs, will.i.am and Jennifer Hudson. Last night, he left fans in tears after performing a duet with Lonnie Donegan's son Peter on stage.

The pair sang an impromptu duet of 'Never Gonna Fall In Love Again', which was written by Lonnie and released by Tom back in 1967. It was a touching TV moment!