Tragedy of the Nolan sisters – untimely deaths, cancer heartbreak and family abuse

Coleen Nolan and her sisters, aka The Nolan Sisters, were once known as Ireland’s First Family of Music after they took the world by storm with their undeniable talent and catchy tunes.

Hailing from a family of two brothers and six sisters, singers Maureen, Anne, Linda, Coleen, Bernie and Denise gained international acclaim during the 70s and 80s with songs such as I’m In the Mood for Dancing and Attention to Me.

The sibling’s mum Maureen and father Tommy were also musicians too and helped the girls catapult to fame relatively quickly.

But although things seemed to be going well for the young family pop group, the sisters were faced with tragedy quite early on in their lives.

Daily Star has taken a detailed look inside the devastation and misfortune of the Nolan sisters.

Father’s abuse

In 2008, Anne Nolan opened up on the abuse she received from her father growing up as a child.

Sharing her horrifying story in an article she wrote for the Daily Mail the star revealed that her sexual abuse started at the age of 11.

Due to the fact that Anne was recovering from an illness, she was not in attendance at her school. But this became the start of her ongoing exploitation.

Remembering what previously took place, Anne recalled: “Dad pulled me towards him and sat me on his knee, he started stroking my hair with one hand and put his other hand between my legs.

“He said he wanted to do something nice for me.”

She added: “My overwhelming reaction was one of puzzlement. I remember thinking to myself: ‘Why is Dad doing this?’

Tommy’s sexual abuse left shockwaves in the family when it finally came to light and TV personality Coleen also spoke openly about how she felt regarding the matter.

Speaking to Piers Morgan in 2021, Coleen revealed that she felt her father didn’t love her as much due to the fact he chose Anne over her.

Speaking candidly the Loose Woman said emotionally: “I cried because there was an element of did he not love me because he hadn’t…

“I thought he must have loved Anne more. And I felt revolted by myself!”

Maureen’s Alzheimers battle

Mother Maureen was sadly diagnosed with Alzheimer’s when she was in her early 70s.

Discussing her mother’s condition, Coleen admitted it was harrowing to see her mum “become someone else” as her persona turned aggressive.

During the first few years, after Maureen was diagnosed, the Nolans tried to look after their mum, but they later had to remove her from her own sheltered accommodation.

Talking about her mother’s health in her Mirror column, Coleen explained: “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.”

The family decided to move Maureen into a care home and saw her every day, but by the end, she didn’t recognise any of her children and often didn’t speak.

In 2007, Maureen passed away peacefully in her sleep.

Coleen said: “We celebrated her 80th birthday early. If there is a god, he listened to me, because she passed away peacefully in her sleep.”

Bernie’s tragic death

In April 2010, Bernie was diagnosed with breast cancer and bravely underwent chemotherapy and a mastectomy when the disease spread to her lymph nodes.

Bernie was later given the all-clear but in 2012 she discovered the cancer had unfortunately returned and had spread to her brain, lungs, liver and bones.

The Nolan sister was adamant and determined to not give up on her fight with the awful condition and was prepared to live with the illness.

Speaking openly at the time, the mother-of-one declared: “OK, it’s not curable. But the doctors have ­promised me the cancer is treatable, it’s ­containable.

“I’m on medication which is ­controlling it, and people have lived for 12 years on these drugs. Who knows what new treatments are around the corner?

“I refuse to sit around like I’ve got a death sentence hanging over my head. I’m going to fight this for ever. It can get stuffed,” she explained.

At the age of 52, Bernie sadly passed away in July 2013.

A spokesman for the family said: “The entire family are devastated to have lost beloved Bernie, a wonderful wife, adoring mother and loving sister; she is irreplaceable.”

Speaking candidly about her loss on Piers Morgan’s Life stories, Coleen told the presenter Bernie is still mentioned frequently.

She expressed: “We talk about her as if she’s still here and it still does feel like she’s a massive part of our family because whatever we do, Bernie is mentioned.

“Sometimes sadly because everything we do we say, Bernie would love this. She was just so full of life and it was, it was…hard.”

Secret half-sister

The Nolans were faced with further turmoil later on in life when they discovered that had a half-sister.

During the 1950s, dad Tommy had an affair and fathered a child who is believed to have been born in 1952- around the same time as sister Denise.

Despite this, the Nolans were unable to find their long-lost half-sister and there were growing fears that their secret sibling may have been among the hundreds of bodies found in an unmarked grave at the site of Bon Secours Mother and Baby Home located in Tuam, County Galway.

Speaking about it further on Loose Women, Coleen said: “The news hit home for me because I’ve talked about the half-sister I never met, who was born in Ireland.

“I’ve always thought, ‘Why has she never got in touch? Maybe she was adopted and sent to America?’ But I just read this [story] and thought, ‘She could have been one of those babies.'”

The family have spent many years searching for their sisters and their mother Maureen put her DNA into a database in a bid to hopefully find her.

“When our dad died our mum told us that we had a sibling and she thought it was a girl, and she was happy for us to try and find her,” Linda shared with Ok magazine.

She added: “She told us how it happened and that dad had a fling and this woman was pregnant the same time mum was pregnant and I’m one of the ones who is so excited.”

Linda and Anne’s cancer ordeal

After taking part in a cruising show together, in the space of just four days of each other, Anne and Linda were both diagnosed with cancer.

Although Anne had already beaten cancer in 2000 when she had 14 lumps removed and underwent punishing months of radiotherapy and chemotherapy, it had made an unexpected return.

A spokesman for sisters Linda and Anne told the Mirror: “It is with a heavy heart to confirm that Linda and Anne are battling cancer together. Linda’s incurable secondary cancer has spread from her hip to her liver, with Anne having a grade three breast tumour.

“They were both diagnosed following filming of their Quest Red show The Nolans Go Cruising and are now undergoing chemotherapy together.

“Linda and Anne would like to thank the public for all the love and support they’ve received.”

The pair have continued to support each other on their journeys which also lead them to write the book Stronger Together.

Coleen’s second divorce

Singer Coleen’s marriage to Ray Fensome sadly ended in February 2018.

Talking about her situation on ITV’s Loose Women, she said: “It’s been really hard and it’s really fresh, we’ve only just filed and he’s just moved out.

“I said last year we were having issues but hopefully we were going to sort them. We’ve really tried, we’ve both tried – we’re never ones to just call it a day.

“It gets to a point where you think, ‘we’ve tried, it’s not working, life has done that and we can’t get it back together’.

Coleen was also married to actor Shane Richie but they split in 1999.

Since then Coleen has moved on and found love with Michael Jones who made an appearance on Loose Women earlier this year.

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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk