Tom Jones opens up about grieving for wife of 59 years

Tom Jones - "When my wife passed away, God bless her, I didn't know whether I would make it. There were days when I felt I couldn't get up. You don't want to get out of bed to start with..."

Tom Jones has admitted he struggled to get out of bed after the death of childhood sweetheart Linda a year ago and revealed therapy helped him and his family cope.

The 76-year-old Welsh singer was left so heartbroken when his beloved spouse Linda lost her battle with lung cancer last year, that he feared his grief would kill him. 

Jones says he eventually started to move on after taking the advice of his son Mark, who is also his manager, and seeing a therapist.

"When my wife passed away, God bless her, I didn't know whether I would make it. There were days when I felt I couldn't get up. You don't want to get out of bed to start with...

''Mark helped tremendously. He said 'There is this lady you should see'. She counselled a lot of things.

''She said to me 'You have got to carry on. If you don't, you will die'. I thought of my family, my son, my daughter and my grandchildren - all of that," he told the Sunday Mirror newspaper.

Jones said he has no plans to take any time off as working is helping to distract him and keeps him alive.

"Time off would be death for me. The only time I'll take off is when I die. I don't take long periods of time off. I'm happier when I'm singing, than not.''

Jones joined the The Voice UK in 2010 but was dropped from in 2015 before returning for the current series, and he says he hopes to return to the next series of the show.

''We are talking about it now so it looks pretty positive. I'd hate to count my chickens before they've hatched but I'd like to do it. I like it and they know I do.''

It was recently reported that Jones is dating longtime friend Priscilla Presley.