Jane McDonald’s agony as she’s forced to sell £1m forever home

Jane McDonald has opened up about the difficult decision to sell the Wakefield bungalow she had called home for 20 years after the deaths of her mother and fiancé Eddie Rothe

Jane McDonald has revealed she’s had to sell the beloved Wakefield bungalow she had called home for two decades.

The much-loved singer and television personality made the decision after the heartbreak of losing her mother and fiancé within a span of three years. Jane, 62, made the the tough choice to part ways with Cleevethorpe House, the £1million five-bedroom detached property she had spent years lovingly renovating.

Jane’s mother Jean passed away just days before Christmas in 2018, an event that Jane likened to a ‘light in her heart’ being extinguished. Tragedy struck again in March 2021 when her fiancé Eddie Rothe sadly lost his battle with lung cancer at the age of 67.

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Jane’s fiancé Eddie Rothe sadly lost his battle with lung cancer at the age of 67

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Jane has endured a difficult few years in her personal life(Image: Anthony Devlin, Getty Images)

The pair first kindled their romance in the 1980s when Jane was only 17, rekindled their relationship in 2008, and later that year, Eddie proposed.

Jane says the house was a painful reminder of her losses and she had to give it up. “I found it difficult. There was too much history there,”

The Yorkshire-born Loose Women presenter has since purchased a smaller house in the same area, along with a seaside retreat where she spends much of her time. She shares: “We all need peace in our lives and I’ve got that now.”

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Jane and her mum visiting their old home at Eastmoor Road in Wakefield

Jane now enjoys a unique living arrangement with her close friend Sue Ravey. The duo, who met as singers in their twenties and have appeared together on Channel 4’s Celebrity Gogglebox, have become inseparable.

After Eddie’s passing, Sue moved into the Wakefield bungalow with Jane. “She’s still my bezzie mate, we’re going to be on the coast together in January. We still do everything together. It works brilliantly.”

However, relocating wasn’t straightforward when Jane faced sorting through two decades of possessions – many tied to deeply distressing recollections.

Jane explained: “You’d be surprised at how much stuff you have. Seven skips later! I was ashamed of myself. You’ve got to let it all go. But Sue is great. She’ll ask me: ‘Why you holding onto this?’ Take a picture of it and bin it.”

Jane previously welcomed her family for Christmas celebrations at her old residence, but this year she marked the occasion with mates instead.

She said: “No cooking for any of us. Everyone always came to us for Christmas dinner mainly because we had the biggest table and enough room to fit everyone in. Times change and you have to change with it. I’m now making new traditions. Let’s be honest, grief hits everyone eventually and if we could turn the clocks back to big family Christmasses, I’m sure we all would. But we can’t, so I’m moving forward.

“There is a positive side to grief, which is freedom. I can now choose to do what I want, when I want. It was hard for me to adjust to that, but now I’m embracing it.”

This also comes after Jane was seen holding back tears in a classic episode of her travel series, Jane McDonald: Lost in Japan, last year, after receiving an emotional fortune prediction about her future.

While filming for the Channel 5 show, the former cruise ship singer was given an O-mikuji, a traditional Japanese paper strip that reveals one’s fortune.

“Is there anything bad in there?” Jane asked the tour guide with a hint of nervousness. Before she read out her fortune, the guide warned her of a potential negative outcome but reassured the star that any misfortune could be easily dispelled.

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Jane is selling the house that holds so many memories for her

Upon unfolding her paper to reveal her daily horoscope, Jane emotionally shared with viewers: “Wow. I feel as if I was strongly on the spring fields with my family, so comfortable,”

“Wow, that is quite emotional, actually, isn’t it?” Jane continued, struggling to hold back her tears. “You could realise almost everything as if you could drive easily on a downhill road,” she continued. “Work hard and believe, and you will be successful just like grass grows thanks to the rain heaven gives.”

“This is just so, so beautiful,” she expressed before asking, “So this is good luck?” “This is good luck,” the tour guide confirmed, to which Jane responded with a sigh of relief: “Thank goodness for that, I was a bit worried about that.”