Actress Jill Halfpenny has spoken with raw honesty about the sudden death of her long-term partner, describing it as "by far" the most difficult experience of her life.
A Tragic Echo of the Past
The former EastEnders and Byker Grove star lost her partner, Matt Janes, in 2017. The 43-year-old suffered a fatal heart attack while at the gym. This tragedy cruelly echoed the loss of Halfpenny's own father, who died of a similar cardiac event during a football match when she was just four years old.
Halfpenny, now 50, recounted the harrowing moment she discovered Matt had died. After he failed to return home, she went to the gym and found him on the studio floor. Despite being rushed to hospital and attempts to revive him with a defibrillator, he could not be saved.
Navigating Compounded Grief
In a recent interview, the Gateshead-born actress reflected on coping with this compounded grief. She revealed the first person she called was her mother, acutely aware of triggering her mum's own painful memories. "I could hear the fear in my mam’s voice," Halfpenny said. "She knows exactly how this feels... I could hear that she knew I was about to go on that same journey."
The mother of one, who shares a teenage son, Harvey, with ex-husband Craig Conway, explained how she has tried to transform her pain. "I guess what I've learned from it is that if I can get through that... then it's not that I feel indestructible, but I feel I've worked a muscle," she said. She likened the process of healing to creating space around a permanent stone of sorrow, where "tiny, incremental wins" make life feel manageable again.
Finding Love and Moving Forward
Halfpenny also shared that she and Matt were trying for a baby at the time of his death. Honouring a promise she made to him, she has since found love again with partner Ian McAllister. "It sounds so cheesy, but I think Ian and I met at the perfect time," she said in 2024. "Ian is my cheerleader - I know I've met somebody who I love and who loves me."
The actress, whose recent TV work includes The Cuckoo and Girl Taken, continues to channel her experiences into her craft while advocating for open conversations about loss and recovery.
