Linda Nolan has tragically died of cancer (Image: ITV)
‘s heartbreaking Christmas wish, tragically never to be fulfilled, was simply to live to see another.
The Irish singer, actress and TV star had been a breast cancer survivor for two decades, but by 2023, doctors found it had spread to her brain and become terminal. However, she courageously revealed her final Christmas wish – to “keep breathing and see another one”.
She told : “I thought my 60th birthday would be my last, but I’m still here, five years later. It’s easy to sit back and get depressed about it, but I’m still going.
“My hope for 2025? To not die, obviously. I just want to be here with my family.” Sadly, it was not to be, as the news broke today of Linda’s death – just over two weeks into the New Year.
However, Linda had revealed that she’d tried to maintain a positive outlook until the end, explaining: “I’ll use jokes and humour as a way to cope, but of course it’s scary. And I have my days where I’m terribly down.”
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Linda added that, despite having made advance plans for her funeral, discussing wills and finances was something she found distasteful.
“When people start talking about putting things in order, I don’t want to talk about that. I don’t want to think about my affairs. It’s so final,” she lamented.
“Every birthday, I want to make it to the next one. I have to be like that, I can’t be a grey cloud of doom.”
Linda had first shot to fame in the 1970s as part of The Nolans, a chart-topping group which sold 30million records and included her sisters Anne, Coleen, Denise, Bernie, and their mother Maureen.
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The Nolans released a statement about Linda’s death (Image: Popperfoto via Getty Images)
Years later, in 2005, Linda was diagnosed with breast cancer, which went into remission a year later.
However, the disease returned in 2016, spreading to her hip and subsequently to her liver in 2020 – and finally her brain.
Tragically, Linda was the second Nolan sister to die of cancer, with Bernie passing away 12 years earlier after her own brain cancer diagnosis, aged 52.
Anne and Coleen have also had previous cancer diagnoses, but are survivors.
Agent Dermot McNamara confirmed in a statement on Wednesday: “It is with profound sadness that we announce the passing of Linda Nolan, the celebrated Irish pop legend, television personality, Guinness World Record holding West End star, Sunday Times bestselling author and Daily Mirror columnist.
“She passed peacefully, with her loving siblings by her bedside, ensuring she was embraced with love and comfort during her final moments.”