Jane McDonald fought back tears as she spoke about her late mother and partner on Thursday night’s episode of The One Show.
The 59-year-old broadcaster lost her mother, Jean, in December 2018, and her fiancé Eddie Rothe died in April 2021 after a fight with lung cancer.
Joining the BBC programme to discuss the brand new series of her beloved show, Holidaying With Jane McDonald, the singer revealed that she was moved with emotion after assisting in the release of baby turtles back into the sea because it reminded her of the circle of life.
After watching a teaser clip of the heartwarming scenes, presenter Ronan Keating asked: ‘That was quite a special moment for you?’
Jane replied: ‘It was because I had just recently lost my partner and my mother at the same time.’
At this point, Jane took a brief moment to compose herself. ‘Sorry, my throat went there,’ she said. ‘It always does when I talk about them.’
Going back to the turtles, she continued: ‘I just thought, this is new life. You’ve just got to think at the end of something comes something beautiful in new life, and we all have to remember.
‘It was quite an emotional thing for me, and they all got down to the ocean so I was so pleased to see them go.’
In an honest interview in September, Jane discussed living without her boyfriend.
‘I can talk about him now and simply feel terrific that I had that amazing time with him,’ she told Loose Women presenter Kaye Adams on the How To Be 60 podcast. And it’s ironic that we should be discussing retirement because he retired at the age of 59.
‘And he said, “I promise you when you get to this age, you’ll see a difference.” And I have. So, we had lots of plans.’
She admitted: ‘I think that’s part of grief as well is that you go through the normal grief and the terrible, terrible time and then you grieve the life that you thought you were going to have.’
Jane met Eddie, the drummer for The Searchers, in a Wakefield club in 1980 and the two began on a young romance when she was only 17, but they split after a few months.
The couple didn’t see each other again until 2008, when they swiftly revived their love, with Eddie proposing the following year.
The One Show airs weekdays at 7pm on BBC One.