“Soon after me and Shane got together people started telling me that he didn’t have very long to live” Shane MacGowan with Victoria Mary Clarke (Photo by Dave Benett/Getty Images) Shane MacGowan backstage at the Town and Country Club Kentish Town in London 1988 with the future Mrs Victoria MacGowan(Photo by Steve Pyke/Getty Images) Shane MacGowan and girlfriend Victoria Clarke Victoria Mary Clarke has said that children “wouldn’t have survived” the fast paced lifestyle she lived with Shane MacGowan. The writer and The Pogues front man were in a relationship for more than 40 years until Shane sadly died on 30 November 2023 at the age of 65. Victoria is a guest on the latest episode of the ‘What A Woman Podcast’, hosted by Caroline Lyons and Sarah Benner.
Speaking about having kids, she said: “It wasn’t part of our story. I don’t think children would have really survived, honestly I don’t.” The hosts were impressed with Victoria’s “refreshing” and honest take on the fact that not everyone wants to be a parent.
“I’ve never understood that. That would be like you telling me that everybody should want to be a bungee jumper or a racing driver - I can’t understand that. It doesn’t make sense to me.
“I can see how people think that having children is going to give them some kind of continuity, something will live on when they die or maybe somebody will look after them when they’re old. I can see that because there’s a practical side to it.