EastEnders star admits sudden dying of companion sparked unusual intercourse obsession
Jill Halfpenny has admitted she had sex on her mind all of the time after her partner died.
The 48-year-old actress, who starred as Kate Mitchell on EastEnders and Rebecca Hopkins on Coronation Street, faced tragedy in 2017 when her partner Matt Hanes died from a heart attack at the gym. Sadly, it echoed the death of her father, who suffered a heart attack in 1979 when Jill was just four years old.
The soap star has confessed she felt like a “lunatic” for thinking about sex following Matt’s death. She told the Mid Point podcast: “It was quite shocking to me. After Matt died, I had this obsession almost, this voracious appetite to have sex.
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“I was like, what a terrible person, what an awful person I am. And then when I went online, I saw hundreds of women going ‘yep, absolutely felt the same way’.
(Image: Dan Wooller/REX/Shutterstock)
But she didn’t actually sleep with anyone, despite her urges to. She added: “Thankfully for me, I didn’t act upon it. And then I went the other way and I was like, not interested, not even a glimmer.”
But despite her grief, Jill has managed to find a new partner. She told Prima Magazine: “It sounds so cheesy, but I think Ian and I met at the perfect time. After Matt died, I didn’t know if I’d ever meet anyone again, but Ian is my cheerleader – I know I’ve met somebody who I love and who loves me.”
(Image: Ken McKay/ITV/REX/Shutterstock)
The actress discussed finding love again during a chat on BBC’s The One Show. She said: “When you lose a partner, a romantic relationship, it can sometimes feel like betrayal if you move on.
“It’s not, you absolutely are allowed to be happy again, but I think if you do the processing and the healing and do the work, you can go into another relationship and be happy again.
(Image: BBC)
“But if you haven’t done that work, there will always be a part of you somewhere else. I fortunately feel that I do deserve to be happy and I do feel happy, and it’s really nice to be in love again.”
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