THE widow of Jonnie Irwin has revealed how she held her dying husband in his final moments as he listened to their kids playing. Jonnie , who hosted Escape to the Country and A Place In The Sun, died aged 50 in February following a gruelling battle with cancer. The dad-of-three had been diagnosed with lung cancer two years earlier, before revealing it had spread to his brain.
His wife Jess, 41, has now told of the "f****** awful process" of his final few days and how he told family members: "I'm just so sorry I'm leaving you all." She told MailOnline : "'You hear people say 'he passed away peacefully. It was lovely,' but it wasn't for Jonnie.
"It was a f****** awful process. I wish I hadn't seen it but I had to be with him." Jess added: "I still struggle with what he went through.
I can't imagine what it is to know your time is up and you're hearing the noise of your three sons kicking a football in the drive; you can smell food cooking downstairs." She described how Jonnie was "surrounded by love" at his home in Newcastle, rather than a hospice, and had around 30 visitors coming to say their goodbyes in his final days. But Jess also told of the pain of "lying next to my dying husband", all while trying to manage their three kids.
She said her husband "didn't want to go" and was "fighting to the last", but not once did he complain about his cancer battle. Jonny fronted A Place in Sun on Channel 4 from 2004 to 2021. He had been selected from hundreds of applicants, along with .
