EastEnders icon Jill Halfpenny, who used to play the role of Kate Mitchell on the soap, shared her emotional journey through grief and recovery in an interview. The actress opened up about what she told her teen son after the devastating loss of her partner.
The beloved actress and Strictly Come Dancing winner, bravely fought back tears as she opened up about the loss of her partner Matt and her father Colin. Read on to find out more about her heartbreaking journey!
Jill Halfpenny Shared Thoughts On Losing Loved Ones
Jill’s partner Matt tragically passed away from a heart attack in 2017, mirroring the sudden loss of her father in 1979 when she was just four years old. While appearing on Lorraine Kelly’s Breakfast Show, the 48-year-old actress candidly discussed how she handled the journey of grief with her son.
She said, ‘I said to him, Harvey, there will be days where I will struggle more than others, there will be days where possibly all I can do is sit on the sofa with you and watch a movie and cuddle up because that’s all I’ll be capable of, but I promise you I will be okay. But right now, I don’t feel okay.’
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Halfpenny recently wrote her memoir, A Life Reimagined: My Journey of Hope in the Midst of Loss. In an extract of her new book, she has spoken about how she used alcohol as an escape after the death of her father. Lorraine noted Jill’s struggle with alcohol to which she responded with raw honesty and said she turned to alcohol to help her ‘stop thinking.’
She added, ‘I began to see that I became a different person when I drank, and I didn’t always like who I became. For a long time, alcohol had helped me escape, to stop thinking. Conversely, I thought it also helped me access all the things that lay dormant inside me.’
Furthermore, EastEnders star also shared vulnerable, life-changing moments when she attended an AA meeting in 2013. She opened up about how she felt a mix of shame and desperation as she approached that door. But she courageously took a seat and tried to take it all in.
She continued, ‘I experienced something I never have before – people, strangers, sharing how they feel.No small talk or pretence, just real authentic feelings.’ We are proud of Jill for being so brave through all this. We are glad that she found love again after Matt left, and we wish her nothing but happiness. For more such updates on EastEnders, keep following Soap Opera Daily! Also, tell us if you liked Jill’s character on the show.
