Jill Halfpenny opened up about dealing with grief following the sudden death of her partner Matt Janes. He tragically suffered a heart attack at the gym and died at the age of 43 in 2017.
The Cuckoo actress has opened up about her feelings of loss and admitted she has since found love with new partner Ian at “right time”.
Addressing her former love’s death which was in shockingly similar circumstances to Jill’s father, who she lost at the age of four, when he went to play football and never came home, she told Prima magazine: “There was a sense of feeling cursed when Matt died after what happened to my dad.
“Like, how can that happen twice? That drove me to therapy to investigate those feelings because I thought, ‘I’m not going to live alongside that narrative.’”
It wasn’t until two years after Matt’s death that Jill opened up about her devastating loss.
On finding love again with new partner, Ian, Jill said: “It sounds so cheesy, but I think Ian and I met at the perfect time.
“After Matt died, I didn’t know if I’d ever meet anyone again, but Ian is my cheerleader…I know I’ve met somebody who I love and who loves me.”
Jill was previously married to fellow actor Craig Conway and the former couple tied the knot in 2007, with cheering crowds waiting outside St Andrew’s Church, Newcastle to wish them all the best. However, the pair parted ways in 2010 after three years of marriage.
The 48-year-old actress is best known for her roles on soaps Coronation Street and EastEnders.
In recent years, prolific Jill, who starred in A Taste of Honey at Manchester’s Royal Exchange Theatre, has taken on weighty subject matter in dark dramas such as Three Girls (2017) and The Long Shadow (2023).
In her upcoming memoir A Life Reimagined: My Journey of Hope in the Midst of Loss, which will be published June 20, 2024, Jill shares how she dealt with two such devastating bereavements, and how her trauma has shaped her as a person.
The July 2024 issue of Prima is now on sale
A Life Reimagined: My Journey Of Hope In The Midst Of Loss (Macmillan) by Jill Halfpenny is out 20 June
