I don't do fear any more - I've been there, I've seen it, I've done it, I've got the T-shirt'

Singer and TV presenter Jane McDonald on the highs and lows of her incredible career, the grief of losing both her mum and her partner, and living life at 110mph

Arriving at a swanky London hotel, we are greeted by the fun and fabulous Jane McDonald. Glamorous, bold and vivacious, it's easy to see why the award-winning singer and TV presenter is often hailed a national treasure. But Jane possesses so many other wonderful qualities you might not expect from someone of her prominence and stature. She’s also modest, self-deprecating and she certainly doesn’t forget her working-class roots.

“I’m definitely not posh,” she giggles in her broad Yorkshire accent as her PR hands her a fancy cake topped with blueberries and gold leaf.

We’re here to chat to Jane, 61, about her new autobiography, Let The Light In, where she opens up for the first time about the heartbreaking death of her fiancé Eddie Rothe from lung cancer in 2021.

Also in the book – which shares the same title as her 2021 studio album – Jane writes candidly about the lessons she’s learned from what she describes as her “life failures”.

“There have been many,” she says. “And that’s exactly what they are – failures and mistakes.”

One particularly difficult time was in 2002. While Jane was at the pinnacle of her early career and living in Florida with second husband and manager Henrik Brixen, she hit rock bottom and “lost absolutely everything”.

After years of performing sellout tours, including a stint in Las Vegas, and with the promise of a new album and a BBC documentary on the horizon, Jane “felt sick” when she discovered she had no money to show for any of it.

Blaming the inexperience of her husband as her manager, but also herself for not having an eye on the books, Jane fired Henrik. It spelled the end of their five-year marriage and she found herself back home in Wakefield living with her mother at the age of 40.