Jonnie Irwin, star of A Place in the Sun, has opened out about notifying his wife Jessica about his terminal cancer diagnosis.
After being diagnosed with incurable cancer that had progressed from his lungs to his brain, the 49-year-old declared in November 2022 that he could only have “months to live.”
The adoring father-of-three has since provided health updates, and recently spoke candidly about his terminal illness in a new interview as he prepared to spend what will almost certainly be his final Father’s Day with his wife Jess and their three children, Rex, four, and two-year-old twins Rafa and Cormac.
Speaking on the AIG Life’s The OneChat podcast, Jonnie opened up about telling his wife about his diagnosis, saying it was ‘brutal’.
He began: ‘A woman who only two months before has had twins, how do you tell her that you’re going to be there anymore?
‘So I just went upstairs, I can remember it like it was yesterday and I’ve got no memory since my whole brain therapy.
‘But that bloody memory stays in my head and it is brutal.
‘And all I can remember is hugging her and just saying sorry and I still feel sorry now.’
In other words, when he’s in agony, he’s ‘not nice’ to be around, so he’removes himself’ from his family.
‘I remove myself on a number of occasions because I’m not good to be around when I’m in pain,’ Jonnie explained.
He added to HELLO! according to MailOnline: ‘I’m like a bear with a sore head and I don’t want them to be around that.’
In other words, when he’s in agony, he’s ‘not nice’ to be around, so he’removes himself’ from his family.
He shared: ‘I keep being asked, “Are you going to tell them?” but tell them what?
‘It would be horrible news that they’d have to get their heads around. And it would confuse the hell out of Rex – he’s got a shocking enough day coming. Let’s bury our heads in the sand for as long as possible.’
