JILL HALFPENNY REVEALS FORMER PARTNER MATT JANES URGED HER TO 'FIND SOMEONE ELSE AND BE HAPPY AGAIN' IF ANYTHING HAPPENED TO HIM - BEFORE HE TRAGICALLY DIED IN 2017

Jill Halfpenny has revealed that her partner Matt Janes, who died suddenly in 2017, gave her permission to date again in a heartwarming conversation that took place while he was alive.

The actress, 48, opened up on Lorraine on Thursday about how Matt's death was 'eerily similar' to her father Colin's four decades earlier.

She lost Matt in 2017 to a fatal heart attack and her father Colin passed away at the age of 36 after he had a heart attack during a game of five-a-side football. Jill was just four years old.

Jill has now revealed that Matt told her he'd want her to 'find someone else and be happy' if anything were to happen to him - a conversation that also mirrored one Jill's mother also had with her father before he died.

Speaking on the daytime TV show, the actress recalled: 'Yeah we were on the sofa one night and he said, "If something were to happen to me I would really like you to find someone else and be happy".

'It was a disturbing conversation as there was something very urgent and direct about the way he was speaking to me, and I saw something in his eyes and I panicked. 

'My mum and dad had actually had a similar conversation with my dad two days before he died so it was all very familiar to me and I panicked.'

Reflecting, she added: 'But now I can look back at the conversation and think he was given me a sign.'

Recalling the day she lost Matt, Jill explained that he left to go to an exercise class in the morning and 'never came home'.

The pair were trying for a baby and shared a final loving glance as Jill shuffled to the bathroom to pee on an ovulation stick.

The actress went back to sleep before she was woken up to bangs on her front door and turned to see she had 17 missed calls.

She ran to Matt's gym in Crouch End and found him lying on the ground. Attempts to revive him were unsuccessful.

The first person Jill called was her mother, who knew the scenario all too well.

'I was ringing her with the news about Matt but I was still thinking about her, that she knows exactly how this feels,' Jill said.

'And I could hear it in her voice, I could hear that she knew I was about to go on that same journey.'

The policy in Jill's family following her father's death was not to mention him. All that remained of his presence was a picture of him on her mother's bedside table.

Speaking to The Sunday Times Magazine, Jill said she didn't blame her mother, as she knew this was an attempt to protect her and her siblings. 

Speaking to Lorraine, the actress added: 'I knew I had to go through it and feel these feelings. Grief is a very scary feeling, it feels like you are a newborn baby and everything you know has changed and is unfamiliar.

'I was very open with my son Harvey. I said, "There will be days where I will be upset and all I might be able to do is watch a film and cuddle up but I promise you I will be ok, but right now I am not ok"'.

Jill was previously married to actor Craig Conway from 2007-2010 and they are parents to 16-year-old son Henry.

She found love again with boyfriend Ian, who has been her 'cheerleader' as she processes her grief.

'It sounds so cheesy, but I think Ian and I met at the perfect time,' she said.

'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.'

Read more

2024-07-04T18:44:21Z dg43tfdfdgfd