Jill Halfpenny has been seen with her new partner for the first time following the devastating loss of her boyfriend.
The EastEnders actress, 49, revealed she has "finally found love and happiness again" with partner Ian McAllister. She tragically lost her boyfriend Matt Janes to a heart attack in 2017 at the age of 43. Jill emotionally shared how Matt wanted her to "find someone else and be happy" if anything were to happen to him.
The former Strictly Come Dancing star and Ian beamed together as they made their first public appearance as a couple. Jill looked stylish in a black suit with white shirt and black tie, while marketing executive Ian held his arm around her.
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ITV)He wore a smart blue jacket over a striped top paired with navy trousers in the photo in the Mail.
Jill, who was known on the BBC One soap as Kate Mitchell, gave herself time before moving on and finding love with Ian. "It sounds so cheesy, but I think Ian and I met at the perfect time", she told Prima magazine. "After Matt died, I didn't know if I'd ever meet anyone again, but Ian is my cheerleader - I know I've met somebody who I love and who loves me."
The TV star, who was once married to actor Craig Conway for three years before embarking on a fling with Ant McPartlin, opened up about Matt's death when speaking to Line of Duty actor Craig Parkinson on the Two Show Podcast in 2019. She said like a "double loss" as she was painfully reminded of her father Colin's death of a heart attack when she was four-years-old.
"My grief at losing Matt, my partner, was so brutal and so shocking but then what happened was it brought out all of the grief from my dad as well", she shared. "It was like dealing with a double loss – a loss I'd never actually dealt with. I just found myself thinking, 'Oh my god, this is unbearable. What am I going to do? I cannot cope. I just want cessation, this feeling to stop'."
The actress has also previously shared the challenges of raising her now 16-year-old son Harvey confessing to Best magazine: "Parenting Harvey was tough after Matt's death. I would be wailing and weeping on my own in my bedroom, but I tried to cry more quietly when he was there because that would be traumatic."
In her book, A Life Reimagined, Jill spoke of a "sense of feeling cursed" due to the eerie similarity between the deaths of Matt and her father, leaving her to wonder why such tragedy struck twice. Despite the darkness, Jill said she has found a silver lining, suggesting that her experiences with grief have transformed her into a "better person".
Her love life took a positive turn with her new partner, Ian, who she "met at the perfect time", despite acknowledging it sounds "cheesy". Jill recently gushed over Ian, calling him her "cheerleader" and expressing her joy at having met someone she loves and who reciprocates that love.
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