Looking for more celeb news? Click here so our interviews and TV recommendations stay at the top of your Google feed.
Jane McDonald has made a heartfelt and surprisingly candid admission about her first marriage, revealing she was never truly in love with her husband of eight years, Henrik Brixen.
The beloved singer, 62, has reflected on that chapter of her life with honesty and perspective — even saying that his decision to end their marriage was “the best thing he ever did.”
For fans who have followed Jane’s journey from cruise ship stages to sold-out arenas, her openness will come as no surprise. She has always worn her heart on her sleeve.
“I was the only one who didn’t see it”
Speaking on the Table Manners podcast with Jessie and Lennie Ware, Jane looked back to the early 2000s when her career was taking her to dazzling heights, including performing in Las Vegas, while her marriage was quietly unravelling behind the scenes.
She said: “It's really strange this, because I should have had the best time of my life. I just got to Vegas, but I knew my marriage was on the brink.”
Jane described Henrik, a Dutch ship plumbing engineer who later became her manager, as a “nice guy”. The pair married very publicly and were together for eight years. But when asked directly if she had been in love, Jane didn’t hesitate.
“Oh no, I really wasn't, everybody could see it and was going, that's not gonna last. I was the only one who didn't see it. But he was a great guy, and he did his best, you know.”
When love and work become intertwined
During their marriage, Henrik also managed Jane’s blossoming music career. And while she credits him with doing his best, she admits there were challenges navigating both a personal and professional relationship.
When asked whether he had been a good manager, Jane replied: “He was, he was in certain things. He was brilliant, but he was very Danish and didn't understand that it's all a game, our business, and you have to play it.”
At the time, Jane was defying expectations. A proud club performer and cruise ship singer, she shot straight to number one — surprising even her own record label.
“I was a club artist, a cruise ship singer, which was like, we don't allow this in our industry. And nobody thought for one minute that I would go straight to number one with that album, nobody.
Not even the record company. It was a shock to everybody. And then my tour sold out massively, which was, you know, another learning curve.
And I was learning the business with Henrik (her husband and manager at the time) along the way. So it was like, hang on a minute. This is not tallying up [..] but it's a game, and you have to play it.”
Eventually, Jane was dropped by her label — a moment that could have stopped her in her tracks. Instead, it spurred her on.
“And then I got dropped from my labels, and I thought, how hard can this be? So I did it all myself.
You don't realise that, every artist thinks they need a record company, and you don't. You just need a bit of money.
So if you've got a backer or a good bank like I had, you know, they'll just say, Yeah, off you go.
I put my house up more times to fund, because I had no kids, it didn't matter to me.
My mother would live wherever I was. So I put my house up all the time to fund the tours and the albums, and I just kept going and building the fan base.”
And it was her loyal supporters who made all the difference.
“My fans are the best in the world. And they stood with me. So it's only been the last sort of five years that I've finally been able to breathe now, but I never gave up. And I think that's the thing.
I think so many people get frightened, lose a lot of money, and think this is not for me. I can't stand this. Or they get so disillusioned with the industry, you've just got to play it or do it a different way.”
Feeling alone in her marriage
Jane has also previously shared that she began to feel lonely during her marriage, particularly after discussions about children.
In her autobiography, she wrote: “Henrik and I once talked about having children but there wasn't room for babies in his plans for me. I began to feel lonely in my marriage.
Your manager is your boss and tells you what to do, what to wear and who to be, so our relationship changed. I loved him with all my heart but felt he'd stopped looking at me as a wife. I became a product.
Eventually, I came to the devastating conclusion that I really did have nothing left. I told Henrik, 'I'm firing you as my manager.'”
The couple then separated in 2003.
Love, loss and resilience
Jane later rekindled her romance with teenage sweetheart Eddie Rothe, whom she had known since her teens. They became engaged in 2008 and shared many happy years together before his heartbreaking death from lung cancer in 2021.
Five years on, Jane has said not a day goes by when she doesn’t think of him.
In an interview with Yours, she shared: “When you are at the lowest of the low and you feel you can’t go any further down, the only way is up. It’s important to think about what you’ve got, not what you’ve lost. If I dwelt on how much I’ve lost, I don’t know how I’d get through another day. It’s best to shut negativity out.”
She has also spoken about caring for Eddie during lockdown, saying:
“At first, I didn’t know how I was going to do it but then I realised it was a privilege. I think you get extra strength when you’re caring for a loved one. It was just so sad that his family and his friends weren’t able to come and see him. But that’s the way it’s been for so many of us out there. So many of us have been through this and I know I’m not on my own.”
Through it all — marriage, career highs and lows, and devastating loss — Jane has remained resilient and remarkably open. It's her positive spirt, courage and determination to never to give up that makes her fans love her even more.
Claire Tapley is a digital editor for Yours.co.uk. She is a journalist with over 18 years' experience writing for women over 50. Before moving to Yours.co.uk, she was deputy editor of Yours magazine for nine years. Claire is extremely passionate about all things TV related, with her favourite shows including Traitors, Strictly and The Great British Bake Off.