Loose Women favourite Jane McDonald returned to the daytime show’s studio today for the first time in two years and exclusively shared her emotional story about losing her fiancé Ed Rothe in March to lung cancer, and caring for him in his final months.
Reflecting on Ed, tearful Jane revealed, “He was gorgeous. I don’t want to feel sad for the rest of my life because that wasn’t Ed. Ed was golden, he was smiley, he was beautiful. I get to do the first interview and I couldn’t be with better people here.”
She added, “It’s been tough. But there’s so many of us out there who have been through this. My heart goes out to you all because it’s been a tough 18 months for so many of us.”
Carol McGiffin – who was reunited with Jane on the panel for the first time in eight years today – went on to say everyone loved Ed and revealed he used to pop along to the Loose Women parties.
On why his nickname was ‘Ed the shed’, Jane revealed, “Ed the shed is… I always thought, and I still think to this day this is true – every man should have a shed, a golf course or an allotment. God love them.”
Carol then said both she and Jane met their partners in 2008 and both of them got engaged on the same day without knowing. Carol said, “We came into work and we said, ‘We can’t both announce it, it looks like it’s been done on purpose!”
Kaye Adams went on to explain Jane and Ed had a romance in their late teens and drifted apart. Then Donna on the Loose Women make-up team encouraged Jane to speak to him when he was at the This Morning studios one day.
On their romance when they were younger, Jane revealed, “27 years apart. I only went out for a loaf of bread, but I knew he had to go off and do his rock and roll. He was with Liquid Gold then and he was just great, he’s just a beautiful man. Part of me thought, ‘I’m never going to keep him’. I was a barmaid and he was this big star. And I thought one day, ‘I’ll go and let him be a superstar’ and he did.”
Carol asked Jane if she’s still singing some of his songs at her shows and she replied, “No, I can’t yet.”
On reuniting with Ed in 2008, Jane turned to Carol and said, “We did a show here and we were on about famous boyfriends – Brad Pitt, Matt Goss, Chris Evans and I said, ‘That’s nothing love, I went out with Wally Rothe from Liquid Gold’ and within a week of that, I didn’t know he was in The Searchers at the time, and I was having dinner with Lynda Bellingham in The Ivy and Frank Allen, the guitarist in The Searchers, came over and said, ‘You used to go out with our drummer, his name’s Ed’ and I said, ‘He’s having you on, love, I’ve never been out with an Ed in my life.’ And he said, ‘You’ll know him as Wally.’ And I thought, ‘Blimey’.
She continued, “Within a week of that, they were in the This Morning studio… I didn’t want to go. I said, ‘I can’t go up there, he probably doesn’t even remember me, because you do, don’t you? You think, ‘It’s been a long time, he might think who?’ And I thought, ‘I don’t want that.’
“Donna dragged me up to see him at the This Morning green room. I’d seen him on the monitor and I’d been on my own for a while, so I was a bit like ‘old maid’, Miss Havisham… and so she [Donna] said, ‘Come on, go and say hello to him.’ She dragged me up to the This Morning green room and I just walked in and he picked me up and swung me around and that was it.”
Carol said how lovely it is that they had that time together again and Jane said, “Thirteen years of absolute bliss and that’s how I’m getting through it. I’m not thinking about the last six months because it was horrendous. I’m thinking how grateful I’ve been.”
She added, “I’m not good at being sad, I’m not good at crying, so every day when I wake up and get that thud that someone’s just hit me, I think, ‘Are you going to go down the dark place where you’ve even for the last year, or are you going to be grateful for everything you’ve got in your life and grateful for the time you had with him, and remember him how I want to remember him?”
Jane went on to talk about caring for Ed on her own. She revealed, “One thing I’m grateful for as well, because it was in lockdown, nobody was allowed to take care of him, so I had to have a crash course in nursing. Ryan [nurse] came and showed me how to do everything. Because it was lung cancer, they were scared of him getting Covid… I took over everything. That was a privilege.
“At first I thought, ‘How am I going to do this?’ But then you get strength when you’re nursing your loved one. I learnt how to do it. I changed all the dressings and I cared for him and I nursed him and I’m glad I did.”
On not letting anyone else know at the time, Jane said, “It was my grief and I don’t think people want to see me like that. Ed was a very private person – he would not have wanted that. It was so sad that his friends and all his family couldn’t come and see him. It’s so sad that that happened. But so many of us out there had the same and I’m not on my own.”
At the end of the interview, Jane revealed she’s going back on tour. She said, “I was supposed to be retiring at the end of the year, but it’s been the only thing I know what to do. It’s been my healer, being out with the fans. I thank them so much for everything they’ve done for me and Wakefield Hospital as well. That’s the only thing I know what to do. I’m going back and doing another travel show, the Caribbean. And then I’m doing Yorkshire, my Christmas arena.
“Everyone’s saying, ‘It’s Christmas, your first one without Ed,’ and I’m thinking, ‘No. Last Christmas was the worst I could have ever experienced and now I’m going to have the best Christmas with all my fans in Leeds arena.’ I’m doing the Royal Variety – there’s Ed Sheeran.”
She added, “I’ve got a real special bond with my fans and I’m grateful to them every single day.”
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Loose Women weekdays from 12:30pm on ITV and ITV Hub
