Actress Jill Halfpenny has opened up about the process of grief following the heartbreaking death of her partner Matt Janes.
The former EastEnders star, who played the role of Kate Mitchell in the BBC soap opera, lost her father at the tender age of four to a heart attack.
During her adult life, she faced a similar tragedy when her boyfriend Matt had a heart attack in 2017 and suddenly died.
Jill Halfpenny said grieving her partner was ‘by far the hardest thing I’ve ever gone through’
In a new interview with Yahoo! for their Unapologetically series, Jill, 50, opened up about grieving and dealing with loss.
As she reflected on her past, she said grieving was “by far the hardest thing I’ve ever gone through”.
“Patience is not my strong point – you definitely have to be patient with grief. So I think resilience, grit, and patience are the positive things that grief has taught me,” she explained.
Elsewhere in the same interview, Jill admitted that people not feeling comfortable asking about loss has influenced her to be more vocal about it.
“I think the lack of acknowledgement makes you feel desperately lonely, and sometimes all it takes is for someone to say, ‘How are you?’, or ‘How are things?’, or ‘I’m so sorry that you lost whoever you lost’. Just acknowledge it if that’s all you can do; that’s the least you can do,” she continued.
The former Strictly champion declared she finds it “very strange when people don’t mention it at all”.
“I hear from a lot of people who say, ‘I didn’t want to mention it in case I upset you’ as if you’re not thinking about it all of the time. No, of course you’re not going to upset me by mentioning it! In fact, it’s really touching.”
‘I have met someone and fallen in love’
Following the death of Matt, Jill has since found love in her boyfriend Ian McAllister. In her autobiography, A Life Reimagined, she discussed their relationship.
“For the first time since Matt died I have met someone and fallen in love. We met eleven days after I was offered this book deal and it was a random and unexpected meeting. His name is Ian and he is kind and funny and intelligent,” she wrote.
“The relationship has helped me understand the importance of all the work I have done before I met him. I can allow myself to be happy and in love without feeling any guilt.
“I can be vulnerable and scared and understand where it’s coming from, I can be free and open, allowing myself to be seen without fear of abandonment. We are in the very early stages of our relationship and even though I know the story will write itself, I sincerely hope it will be a long and exciting one.”
Read more: All the stars who’ve found love after death as Dame Deborah James’ husband moves on
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