VINNIE JONES with his wife Tanya, who passed on at their Los Angeles home. (Photo: Featureflash Photo Agency/Shutterstock.com)
FOOTBALLER-TURNED-ACTOR Vinnie Jones says he now believes in the afterlife following his wife’s passing.
Tanya, his 53-year-old partner, passed on after losing a six-year battle with melanoma, the most severe type of skin cancer. The couple lived in Hollywood.
Surrounded by Vinnie and five family members – including their daughter Kaley – Tanya died at their Los Angeles home.
It was in her final moments that Vinnie, known as a hardman actor, said he felt Tanya’s spirit leave the room.
“When she finally went, it was like Tinker Bell had released her,” he said. “It felt like her spirit was moving in the room. I got peace from that.
“We were outside until about midnight, but I was the last to go to bed. With Tanya, she would always blow me a kiss and I would catch it and carry it with me.
“When I went to go in and looked up, there was a small white light straight above me. I thought it was strange.
“It was right there above the house. So I went, ‘Is that you babe?’ But the light didn’t move.”
The actor added: “Then as I went to go in, I turned around, blew her a kiss and threw it.
“The light that had been there went straight over my head. Then it went across my vision and up into the sky.
“That was her saying: ‘We’re all done. Everything is good. I’m up there. I’m going to wait for you.’
“I never believed in any of that spiritual stuff. Never. But now I believe in an afterlife.”
Tanya was treated at Cedars Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles before spending her final days at their Hollywood home.
The couple moved to the USA after Vinnie went from a football hero to a film favourite after rave reviews for his debut in Guy Ritchie’s Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels over twenty years ago.
Vinnie was married to Tanya for 25 years. They renewed their vows in 2007 when Vinnie wore his original wedding suit.
Ruling out ever falling in love again, the actor added that Tanya “was the light of my life. I will never be with anyone else.
“She never ever slept one night in hospital without me there. I have always been by her side.
“In the week of her death, the doctors said very nicely: ‘These are your options. We don’t know if it is going to be months or weeks.’ Through my grief I said, ‘I don’t want her to be in any pain.’
“So we took her home. Straightaway Tanya was on oxygen. Then she was on fentanyl (an opioid used as a pain medication). We got some beautiful innocent moments in those last days.”
