Melinda Rose “Linda” Woodward and Sir Tom Jones initially met when they were both relatively young. They started an incredible adventure together and experienced a love that would last a lifetime. Unfortunately, this adventure had to end, just like any other journey.
To find out more about their destined romance, continue reading.
The age difference between Sir Tom Jones and Melinda Rose “Linda” Woodward was just seven months. They were 12 years old when they first met, but it wasn’t until they were fifteen that the famous singer asked Linda out.
To meet her since he was so infatuated with her, Tom would plan his trips to the shop to coincide with hers. As for Linda, she was the target of several suitors.
In a later chapter of his book, “Over the Top and Back: The Remarkable Autobiography from a National Treasure,” Tom said he was fortunate to have been alive at the right moment. He also defeated all his other rivals because Linda liked him too. However, he did mention one man who gave him intense competition.
“And fortunately, she seems as keen on me as I am on her, so it happens between us fairly smoothly, without too much anxiety and heartache,” he added.
Even before their relationship progressed to a serious one, Tom was madly in love with Linda. Tom still felt a pain inside him when he couldn’t see Linda while bedridden and afflicted with tuberculosis. He claimed, “Even when I was 11 or 12 years old, I experienced a pain in my chest for this individual. I yearned to be with this person. I couldn’t wait to get out of bed to view this girl.
Linda informed Tom that she had missed her period while they were both around 15. He initially believed she was simply late, but she was pregnant. Linda was not yet 16 years old. Therefore, she was not eligible to get married legally, despite Tom’s desire to marry her immediately.
The couple faced additional obstacles in their decision, such as the lack of a place to live after marriage.
Their families approved of their marriage when Linda turned 16 years old. After their wedding, they split up and lived with their respective parents.
On March 2, 1957, a reasonably straightforward ceremony occurred in a plain room. The musician was not with his wife at the hospital on the day of the baby’s birth. He called twice to inquire about her whereabouts, and on the second call, he received the following message: “Congratulations, your wife has given birth to a baby boy.”
Later, he saw the child and brought some fruit for Linda.
Tom remembers his first time holding his son with great affection. He had an intense flood of feelings that he had never experienced before. Their son was given the name Mark Woodward.
In his song “The Road,” published in 2008, Tom Jones acknowledged that he is a “lady’s man” in real life. He stresses, though, that he always returns home to his wife.
The artist’s activities were well known. The singer entertained groupies and young women who competed for his attention. He also acknowledged having slept with more than 250 women in a year while a lothario.
Tom stated in an interview that their marriage triumphed over everything else. Linda, on the other hand, endured everything. She and I both had a mutual desire to remain together. As long as you return to me, she added.
Tom stated in an interview that they were still deeply in love with one another even after sharing 60 years of marriage.
Being a romantic, the singer preserved the phone box where he and Linda would share passionate smooches at the end of their Treforest street. He stole it and put it next to his pool in Los Angeles after learning that the council was having it taken down.
The couple used to be apart for months when Tom was on tour or filming for shows like “The Voice” in London. Linda sought to maintain a low profile and avoid the spotlight while her husband was the target of media attention and was a highly well-known figure.
Jo Mills, the widow of Tom’s late manager Gordon Mills, asserts that she thinks Linda would have cheerfully cooperated if Tom had asked her to be engaged to his wife. She is a friendly, warm person. Thus it is sad. “I think Linda was made to feel as if she mustn’t exist in his life from the beginning,” Mills said.
Jones revealed in his autobiography that Linda had emphysema and was agoraphobic. Furthermore, he disclosed information about her long-term depression.
Tom claimed that Linda had lost her spark and had ceased acting and looking like herself. She remained Tom’s most significant influence, nevertheless.
Linda had previously fought cancer twice in 2014, and the disease took her life in 2016. Tom said she passed quickly because the lung cancer was discovered so late.
Jones warned his son that if Linda went away, he would no longer be able to sing during one of her early cancer scares. His son Mark responded that they would have to ensure Linda’s survival in response to this sentiment.
Jones recounts having an emotional talk with his wife, during which he informed her that their cancer was terminal. The family knew Linda’s third diagnosis would be her final one, and she knew her time on earth was winding down. You see, I have no idea what I’m going to do. There is no other life that I can see.
But she compelled Tom and Mark to pledge to live on. She encouraged them to continue flourishing in her honor and memory. Tom reported that she said, “You’ve got to do it. We cannot fall together. You don’t have to follow me; I have to go. Continue; you have to. Still, you can sing. It would help if you guaranteed it to me.
Before her diagnosis, she strongly desired to return to the UK. She requested that Tom grant her wish. Later, Tom realized this dream by selling their $7.1 million home and returning to the UK.
Linda passed away on April 10, 2016, at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. Her fight with cancer was brief but intense.
Jones was devastated by her death and left feeling aimless. “She was a part of me, and I was a part of her,” he said. Then, a piece of me perished with her. I’ve been trying to fight back and regain my sense of wholeness for a while now.
While in bed, he claimed, he would hear or see her, but as he opened his eyes, she would not be there.
After Linda Presley passed away, Tom and Priscilla Presley, Elvis Presley’s ex-wife, were connected. Tom claimed that he would never be able to be married once more and that he had no interest in dating. He clarified the situation, stating that they were merely buddies who occasionally went out to eat.
Regarding his profession, Hector Jones acknowledges that it was challenging to resume music when Linda passed away, but his son and daughter-in-law supported him. “Look, if you do not sing again, you will die; you will just shrivel up and die,” they allegedly remarked to Tom. Would you like to do that?
Tom was back on the road four weeks after Linda died away. He claimed that performing was more straightforward since he imagined Linda with him.
He still finds it difficult to sing the tunes his late wife liked. But the musician claims that music gives him comfort and that he is sure that his wife would want him to continue making songs. According to him, “music is saving my life.”
To grant her final request, he also relocated back to London. Since Linda had been diagnosed with cancer, it was too late for her to move around, so Tom decided to relocate for her.
He said that the relocation had been planned, and he did not feel at ease living in a home he shared with Linda. “That was our Los Angeles home. There was no longer a place where I felt at ease. He claimed that Linda, who was often homesick, wanted me to return to Britain.
Since Linda had furnished it, he decided to sell it along with all the furniture since he found Linda’s designed home without her depression. Tom now lives alone close to his son and grandchildren in the UK.
Our best wishes go out to Tom Jones and his family. Please pass this along to other singing enthusiasts so they can learn more about the great performer!
