Martine McCutcheon and her mum, Jenny Tomlin, were once inseparable – but a family tragedy led to a devastating breakdown. Now heartbroken Jenny is desperate for a reconciliation
Martine McCutcheon and her mother, Jenny Tomlin, were once inseparable, but a sudden family death led to a heartbreaking fallout. Now, a distraught Jenny is hoping for reconciliation.
“There was nothing she didn’t include me in,” shares Jenny. “We did all the wonderful stuff – the premiere of Love Actually, the restaurants – but the memories I cherish are of us just sitting on my bed, bringing up old memories and laughing. I miss that.”
Their bond began to crumble following the tragic passing of Martine’s brother Laurence John – affectionately known as LJ – in 2022, at the tender age of 31. Jenny admits she experienced an emotional breakdown and pushed Martine away, with the star publicly mourning her brother.
In an interview with OK!, 69-year-old Jenny expressed her desire to apologise to 49-year-old Martine for distancing herself, reports the Mirror.
“When I lost LJ, I detached. I was so heartbroken I couldn’t talk to Martine,” she confesses. “There was no big row – Martine tried to contact me for months, but I didn’t answer. Martine was grieving and needed me, too.
“I want the chance to say sorry.I miss her so much – it physically hurts.”
Jenny and Martine did have a brief encounter last October, but it wasn’t the reunion Jenny had hoped for. Martine had asked if Jenny’s husband Alan could come and do some work at her new home, which Jenny had been excited to do. Sadly, the reunion was awkward for them.
Jenny spoke of the discussions about Christmas arrangements, yet nothing was set in stone. It was at that point, she recalled, that a profound silence set in. Reflecting on Victoria Beckham’s well-documented family troubles, Jenny empathised: “I understand the pain Victoria Beckham is going through over her estrangement from Brooklyn. He was her firstborn, too. It’s a heartbreaking situation for anybody who is estranged or has lost their child.”
Jenny vividly remembers the day LJ passed away, recounting the phone call from his fiancée informing her that he had collapsed and couldn’t be revived. Clad in her pyjamas, she made the hour-and-a-half journey from Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire to LJ’s place by the Essex coast, only to find she was too late.
“It was like a nightmare. I couldn’t believe my boy was gone.”
An autopsy revealed that LJ – who was neither a smoker nor a drinker – had died from acute ischaemic heart disease and diabetes. Jenny called Martine from the scene, but was so overwhelmed with grief that her daughter had to talk to the paramedics to understand what had occurred.
In the early hours, Jenny drove to Martine’s house.
“She looked at me and realised I needed looking after,” Jenny recalled. “She’d prepared the spare room, stroked my hair, gave me a cuddle and, somehow, I slept.”
LJ was buried on October 31, 2022.
Martine, known for her role as Tiffany Mitchell in EastEnders between 1994 and 1998, was just 15 when LJ was born, and Jenny remembers how she took on a motherly role towards him. Since LJ’s passing, Jenny has been crippled by anxiety, which she believes is why she hasn’t seen her daughter or her 10-year-old grandson, Rafferty, for such a long time.
“I didn’t contact Martine,” she confessed. “I abandoned her. I was so wrapped up in my own grief that I was neglecting my other child. That was the start of it, and things just… snowballed. And here we are.”
Jenny, an author of novels and memoirs including Behind Closed Doors, which details the abuse she endured as a child, said she has tried to reach out to Martine recently – making calls, sending texts, and posting cards – but claimed she has received no reply.
She hopes that with her speaking out, Martine may get in touch.
In recent times, Jenny has begun to feel more like herself and is even penning a memoir about her life with LJ, yet the remorse over her estrangement from Martine lingers. “I let Martine down. There’s not a day goes by when I don’t think of her.”
Jenny refuses to comment on the end of Martine’s 18-year relationship with musician Jack McManus, respecting their privacy: “That’s between Martine and Jack,” she states firmly.
Despite the challenges, Jenny’s resolve to reconnect with her daughter remains unshaken: “I don’t think I’ll ever stop trying when it comes to my girl. If I could speak to Martine, I’d tell her how sorry I am. I’ve lost one child, I don’t want to lose another.”
Want all the biggest Showbiz and TV news straight to your inbox? Sign up for our free Daily Star Showbiz newsletter.
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
