Coleen Nolan fought back tears on Loose Women on Wednesday as she revealed the heartbreaking reason she doesn’t visit the graves of her dead relatives.
The Loose Women presenter, 59, made the candid confession during a discussion about visiting family members’ final resting places.
And while Kaye Adams shared that she often feels duty-bound to lay flowers and pay her respects, Coleen explained the emotional reason why she avoids it.
Coleen has suffered a heartbreaking few years as her family has been beset by tragedy.
The singer’s sister Bernie died in 2010 and her mother Maureen passed away aged 80 in 2007.
Despite the heartbreaking deaths, Coleen shared that she avoids visiting their graves because she believes she can keep their memory alive better by talking about them and reminiscing.
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Coleen Nolan, 59, fought back tears on Loose Women on Wednesday as she revealed the heartbreaking reason she doesn’t visit her family’s graves
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The Loose Women presenter made the candid confession during a discussion about visiting family members’ final resting places
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Coleen has had a heartbreaking few years as her family has been beset by tragedy including the death of her sister Bernie in 2010 and the tragic passing of her mother Maureen in 2007
She said: ‘You keep them alive in memory don’t you? You keep them alive in photographs and you keep them alive by talking about them.’
She went on to reveal that she doesn’t feel guilt about her choice either, despite admitting that she could easily see all her relatives as they’re buried or cremated in the same place.
‘I don’t [feel guilty], I don’t.’ she said.
‘They’ve got a headstone so there’s a place to go and all my other relatives who have passed away are all in the same place.’
She went on to admit that she also hasn’t visited them since laying them to rest.
‘No I don’t [visit them], and I haven’t since I was placed there,’ she revealed.
‘But that isn’t because I don’t love my mum or dad and I don’t think about them – especially at Christmas time, but for me, going there, I’ve got this thing, “why am I going there?”.
‘They don’t know whether I’ve been here or not. They’re not here.’
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Coleen explained she hasn’t visited her relatives’ resting places since laying their deaths and explained that she would like to be cremated and her ashes brought home
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Legends: Since rising to fame in the 1970s, the family have faced plenty of heartache, whether it be health scares, marriage woes or sad deaths
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The family has been repeatedly hit by tragedy and it began when Coleen’s brother when Brian lost his wife Linzie just two years after they tied the knot
Coleen then described how her sister Linda had brought the ashes of her husband, who had tragically passed away, back with her from the funeral and kept them in the house.
The media personality explained that this had brought her an immense amount of joy and changed her perspective on grieving and burials.
She explained that when Linda brought him back to the house her ‘first instinct was “he’s home”‘.
She added: ‘He’s back home and he’s in the warm, and the telly’s on and he loves that programme and we both loved it and were on such a high.
‘And I said to my kids, I don’t care where you stick me, you can stick me under the sink with all the bleach, but I want to come home. I just want to come home.’
The family has been repeatedly hit by tragedy and it began with Coleen’s brother Brian, who lost his wife Linzie just two years after they tied the knot.
At the age of just 26, Linzie contracted a virus, which turned into a viral infection that attacked her lungs and later her heart.
Linzie went onto lose her battle with the virus, leaving the family devastated.
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In 2005, Linda was the first, diagnosed with stage three breast cancer after finding a lump in her breast and despite later receiving the all-clear, revealed the cancer had spread to her liver in 2020
The sisters, Bernie, Linda and Anne also lost their mother Maureen in 2007, after she was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in her early 70s.
Coleen detailed her mother’s health battles in a column for The Mirror, writing: ‘The disease took all that from her. My family watched her sink and felt helpless. It got to a point where it was too dangerous for Mum to be left on her own.
Their mother was moved into a care home during her final years, and died in her sleep after celebrating her 80th birthday.
The main tragedy to have beset the Nolans remains the devastating cancer diagnoses, with multiple siblings battling the disease on more than one occasion.
In 2005, Linda was the first, diagnosed with stage three breast cancer after finding a lump in her breast.
While she underwent gruelling treatment, Linda’s husband of 26 years Brian tragically died, after he was diagnosed with skin cancer, but she went onto get the all-clear in 2006.
She previously admitted she struggled to move on following his passing, telling the Belfast Telegraph: ‘Life without Brian is a nightmare. He was my soulmate and I miss him terribly.’
In 2017, Linda revealed she’d been diagnosed with a form of incurable secondary cancer in her hip, which later spread to her liver in 2020.
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Coleen’s sister Bernie tragically passed away at the age of 52 in 2013 after a battle with breast cancer (pictured in 2010)
At the same time, sister Anne was also diagnosed with breast cancer before being given the ‘all clear’ in 2020.
In 2010, Bernie was diagnosed with breast cancer, and after gruelling chemotherapy and a mastectomy, was given the all-clear.
However, in 2012 she learned the cancer had returned, and had spread to her brain, lungs, liver and bones in 2012.
Despite her terminal prognosis, Bernie vowed she was ‘living’ with the disease, and began taking medication to control it.
In 2013, Bernie tragically passed away at the age of 52, with her family at her side.
Because of the series of health woes, Coleen has previously confessed that it has become a daily ritual for her to check for signs of cancer.
The presenter, who is one if six sisters, candidly admitted she is terrified she will be the family member targeted by the disease next.
Speaking to The Mirror Coleen opened up about the preventative measures she takes as she explained: ‘We have had so much heartache… I’m always checking. I still have this thing when I think, “What if I have missed it?”.
‘Whenever I’m in the shower, I will have a good feel and check and if there is ever a time when I think “I don’t like that”, I will go to the doctor straight away. And they will say “It’s fine, it’s a little cyst or an infection”.
