Tom Jones was married to his wife Linda, also known as Melina Rose Woodward, for 59 years. However during that time the singer admitted he had slept with “hundreds” of women. One of those woman was Charlotte Laws who he had a three-year affair with after Sir Tom seduced her at a concert in 1979.
Laws is an American author, talk show host, community activist, animal rights advocate, former Los Angeles politician and actress under the stage name Missy Laws.
She first met him while at the age of 18, when she was still a virgin, and they become romantically involved after a Florida cancer in 1979.
In an interview in 2015 she said: “I told him it was my first time, and he held my hand and said, ‘Are you sure you want to go through with this?’ He was a real gentleman.
“I met Tom’s mum, dad, sister and of course Mark. There was nothing secretive about our relationship.”
She went public about her affair with the singer in her memoir Rebel in High Heels, and says she was her first boyfriend and she dated him age 18 until 21.
She told the Huffington Post in 2015: “Luckily I am one of those people who never throw anything away.
“With respect to Tom, I had mementos from our time together: backstage passes, photos and a handwritten diary. Two weeks after our first date in March 1979, I returned to the hotel suite and discotheque where Tom and I had been. I took pictures.
“This enabled me (some 35 years later) to be accurate in the book about colors and furnishings and bring the experience to life for the reader.”
The 58-year-old said in the interview she believes Tom Jones went for her because men go for the same physical type as their mums
She said: “Tom’s mother was short, blonde and feisty – just like me. I had the honour of meeting her several times; she was a very special lady.
“Tom knew I was in love with him and cared about him as a person. My affection had nothing to do with his fame, money or singing talent. I came from a wealthy “old money” family in Atlanta, so riches were unimportant to me.
Plus, I was friendly with tons of sex symbols and entertainers by the time I was dating Tom. I had no romantic interest in them. Tom knew he was special.”
She said the singer helped her become the “strong woman” she is today, as she felt interior as a child and teenager.
The 58-year-old added: “Dating Tom increased my self-confidence. After all, he was my “dream guy,” and I had been thinking about him for ten years prior to our first date!
“He and other entertainer friends helped me escape emotionally from the snobby, money-obsessed society in which I’d been raised.
“Entertainers became my substitute family, so to speak. Plus I had endured a great deal of tragedy in childhood with my mom’s suicide, my brother’s death, and my father’s verbal abuse.
“Surrounded by the love and support of entertainment friends, I was better able to explore who I was as a person and what I wanted to become. I credit Tom for helping me with that journey.”