Coleen Nolan tearfully remembers sister Linda Nolan during Loose Women return

5 February 2025, 12:50

Coleen returned to Loose Women after time away following the death of her sister.

Coleen Nolan has opened up about her family’s grief following the passing of her sister Linda Nolan.

Linda Nolan died aged 65 on January 15, 2025, from pneumonia, after a long battle with incurable breast cancer.

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The former Nolan Sisters singer and cancer awareness advocate’s funeral was held in Blackpool on Saturday, February 1, and was attended by the whole of her famous family.

TV star Coleen – the youngest of the Nolan sisters – tearfully opened up about the occasion after being welcomed back to Loose Women on Tuesday, Feburary 4, by fellow regular panellist Christine Lampard.

Coleen Nolan pays tribute to sister Linda

“You have great moments and you have absolute meltdown moments,” Coleen said, discussing her family’s grief on the show.

“[The funeral] was a beautiful day, if you can say that,” she continued, detailing how Linda’s pink coffin was one she’d spotted and asked for several months before her death.

“Linda would have absolutely loved it. The weather was beautiful, and more importantly the turnout from the public – right from when she passed away... people we’ve never met before have been sending the most amazing messages, cards, flowers to my whole family.

“You probably think 'They don’t even read it,' but we’ve read as many as we can and I can’t tell you how much it means to us, and that really helped.”

But losing Linda has still been very “hard,” Coleen continued. “There was a time where I thought ‘Do I go back [to TV]? Is it too soon?’” she admitted. “But then you have to, because life goes on.”

Coleen went on to share that the “one thing” she believes Linda wouldn’t want is for anyone to feel defeated following her death.

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Having battled cancer in the public eye for 20 years, Coleen stressed how in the end it wasn’t cancer which “got” Linda, but the flu and pneumonia.

“She was a massive force in our family,” the 59-year-old recalled: “And [losing her] feels like such a hole.”

But Coleen added that she was “glad to be back” with her “other family” on Loose Women, just as she knows Linda would want her to be.