Sir Tom Jones needed grief counselling following the death of late wife

Sir Tom Jones had opened up about needing grief counselling following the death of his wife Linda Trenchard.

Trenchard died at the age of 75 in 2016 following a battle with lung cancer, with the singer busy touring when she was first diagnosed.

Sir Tom, 80, has now opened up about his late wife’s death, revealing he rushed straight to the hospital in Los Angeles to visit her following her diagnosis.  

Speaking to The Independent, he explained: ‘Me and Mark [their son, and Sir Tom’s manager] were walking down the hallway looking for the room she was in.

‘And she had the door open, and she was waving to us! “Here I am, hi!” Jesus Christ, I walked in and I said, “Linda, you know, they’ve told you?”

‘She said, “Yeah, yeah, I know.”’

The It’s Not Unusual hitmaker stayed by Trenchard’s side for the final 10 days of her life, and despite her illness, he recalled her being ‘the calmest person in the room’.

He said: ‘I was a basket case, honestly, and so was Mark, the two of us were like two gibbering idiots, we both had to go for counselling in LA – grief counsellors. We had to go and sit down and talk to this woman.’

Remembering what the grief counsellor told him, he went on: ‘“So don’t do anything drastic right now,” she said. “Stay exactly as you are”. And I said, “Well, I’m going to do what my wife told me to do”, which was to move to London.

‘We were going to do it anyway, but she said to me, “Now that I can’t come, it doesn’t mean you can’t go, so get yourself a flat in London and start again.”’

It comes after The Voice UK coach recounted what Trenchard told him in her final days before she died.

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During an appearance on The One Show, Sir Tom outlined how the songs on his new album Surrounded By Time are each ‘telling a different part of my life’.

He explained that the first song on the album, I Won’t Crumble With You If You Fall, took him back to when his late wife ‘was passing away’ from lung cancer.

Sir Tom explained: ‘I was there in the hospital room with her for the last 10 days and I said, “My God Linda, I don’t know what I’m going to do with myself because I won’t be able to sing, I won’t be able to get the words out”. She said, “You must!”

‘She said, “Don’t fall with me! You know, I gotta go. But you don’t have to. And you’ve got to go and do what we planned to do”, which was to move back to London.’

Continuing to recall the conversation he had with Trenchard, he stated: ‘But she said, “I’ve just ran out of time. But you’ve got to go and do it now”.

‘And she said, “But when you get on the stage, think of me laughing. Don’t think of me as I am now. Thank of all the years we’ve had together and that should lift you up”. Which it does.’

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