The formidable Jane Mcdonald delights fans on stage and screen with her incredible vocals and she’s never short of a smile, but behind the scenes, the star has had a tough few years, losing her fiancé and her mother. After her partner Ed’s death, she chose to give up her home of 20 years and downsize to a bungalow and now she’s opened up about the reasons behind that heart-wrenching decision.
Home for Jane was five-bedroom Cleevethorpe House, worth £1 million, but the memories there were too painful. “I found it difficult. There was too much history there,’ she told the MailOnline. She found a smaller single-floored property in the same area instead. Her new abode has become a sanctuary, and she added: “We all need peace in our lives, and I’ve got that now.”
There was also another major change as Jane decided to move in with her best friend Sue. Yes, it may be unconventional, but it’s a set-up that works very well for the pair. Speaking to the Yorkshire Post, Sue previously recalled how the arrangement came about. “I was invited by Jane – we both lived on our own. She’s got a rather large bungalow in ‘Shakey Wakey’ and I spend most of my time travelling between Wakefield and Doncaster. We do spend a lot of time together anyway and she invited me to move into a part of the house.”
Letting go
The big move came with a lot of upheaval. “You’d be surprised at how much stuff you have. Seven skips later! I was ashamed of myself. You’ve got to let it all go,” remarked Jane. She also said: “There is a positive side to grief, which is freedom. I can now choose to do what I want, when I want. It was hard for me to adjust to that, but now I’m embracing it.”
Throwing herself into work, Jane has her new, Living the Dream tour, this year, to promote her new album. “I’m travelling for as long as people want to see me. I can do as much travel as I want now, because I’m not thinking about someone at home all the time. That’s what I mean about freedom. Grief never leaves you, it’s awful. But what you have to do is bring as much joy into your life to sit alongside it so that it balances.”
For those not lucky enough with a ticket to the tour, you can catch Jane on her Channel 5 programme, Jane McDonald Pole to Pole, where cameras follow Jane’s bucket-list trip to Antarctica and the Arctic Circle.
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