Sir Tom Jones, 78, says he’ll never find love again after the death of his late wife Linda Jones in 2016. While the charismatic singer had hundreds of affairs throughout his 59-year marriage to Melinda (Linda) Rose, he says she was the only woman for him. Tom and Linda married in 1957 and were together until April 10, 2016, when Linda died following a battle with lung cancer.
The Voice UK judge and celebrated singer has spoken out about the guilt and heartbreak he’s felt in the years following his wife’s death.
In an interview with the Sunday Express, Sir Tom said: “After I lost my wife, lyrics to a Bob Dylan song reminded me of her. It’s called What Good Am I?
“The song didn’t really apply to me because it is about someone who turns their back and doesn’t see what’s really happening.
“But I was reading into the lyrics thinking ‘Jesus Christ… was I partly to blame? Should I have woken up before?”
“Because she had lung cancer. I thought, ‘What could I have done?’ It started to mean more.”
While Sir Tom recognised nothing more could be done to save Linda, who was affectionately known as Lady Linda, he still had moments of doubt.
Sir Tom said: “The reality is I couldn’t really have done anything because by the time we found out about her cancer it was too late.
“So there’s not a lot you can do. But then you do start to think ‘What if I had forced her to go to the doctor’s?’ Because she didn’t go.
“You think, ’S***, maybe I should have said she had to’. So that song is very touching.”
Tom Jones admitted to bedding more than 200 women a year at the height of his career.
But despite his promiscuous past, The It’s Not Unusual singer revealed he doesn’t think he will ever find love again.
When asked about another relationship, he said: “I don’t think so.”
Sir Tom and Linda were childhood sweethearts had one son together, Mark Woodward in 1957.
The Voice UK host has faced backlash over his multiple affairs – but controversially has said he doesn’t regret them.
In 2016 interview before his wife death he defended his flingsm which included a relationship with former Miss World Marjorie Wallace and Supremes singer Mary Wilson.
He said: “I never hurt anybody, it never backfired on me.”
But writing in his autobiography, the singer admitted Linda was his only true love.
Sir Tom wrote he had “never had that feeling for anyone else, I don’t think you can fall in love more than once”.
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