Sir Tom Jones says the memories of his beloved wife were so raw after her death that he had to sell the £6.5million Los Angeles mansion they shared.
The Voice coach, 77, spoke for the first time about his move back to the UK and how he left all the furniture and fittings for the new owner.
“I’m back in the UK permanently now because my wife passed away in 2016,” he said. “So that was our house in LA. I didn’t feel comfortable there any more.”
Tom and wife Melinda – who had one son, Mark – were married for 59 years before she died of lung cancer, aged 75.
He sold the mansion they shared with all its furniture and fittings
Tom admits his wife was homesick and wanted to return to Britain before her death
The It’s Not Unusual singer was forced to leave his wife at home while he toured due to her ill health.
“She wanted to come back to Britain, she was always homesick,” said Tom.
“Then she got sick and we couldn’t do it. She told me to go back the last week she was alive. She told me to get a flat in London.
“She would have loved to have come back but we left it too late.”
Tom added: “She decorated the whole place (in LA) so, apart from the photographs and some artwork, the man who bought it wanted the whole thing, furniture and everything, which was great for me because I wouldn’t have been able to put all that stuff into a flat.”
Tom sold up last year and says he has moved back to the UK for good
But he is now back to normal and says his health is “great”, although he has lost some of his famous moves.
He added: “I’m walking like nothing ever happened.
“I can still dance on stage. The gyration – that’s got nothing to do with the leg, that’s something to do with age, I’m not moving like I used to.”
The Voice returned on ITV tonight and Tom says it’s “strange” the show has yet to unearth a major star.
“The potential is there. We all wonder what happened to that person. What went wrong?”
