Coleen Nolan emotionally opened up about the death of her sister Bernie during a discussion on Thursday’s (24 April) episode of Loose Women.
The TV star spoke about how she navigated parenting after the loss of her sister, who died from cancer in July 2013. Coleen revealed the one thing she most regrets while she was grieving.
“So Bernie passed away, and Ciara went on a school trip. I think it was her last year or two in primary,” Coleen told her fellow panellists.
“And, it was that moment of ‘Do we bring her back for the funeral?’ or ‘Do we just let her have her moment as a kid and stay away?’ She doesn’t need to see us all crying and sad,” she added.
Coleen revealed that she chose not to bring Ciara back from her school trip to attend the funeral, but her daughter later revealed she wished she had attended the service.
“So, we didn’t. She knew that Bernie passed. She stayed on her school holiday,” Coleen said. “But, to this day, she’s 24 in June now, she always says, ‘I wish you had brought me back.’
“Because she doesn’t feel that she got to grieve properly over her auntie Bernie, like she did with Linda recently.”
However, Coleen revealed that her two sons, Jake and Shane Jr., whom she shares with her first husband, Shane Richie, felt differently when they experienced the loss of their grandfather, Coleen’s father, during their younger years.
She told how Shane Jr. opted not to attend the funeral while Jake insisted on going, and she allowed them both to make their own choice.
While Coleen’s co-stars agreed with her decisions, she expressed her regret over Ciara not attending Bernie’s funeral, adding: “But, I feel bad now with Ciara because at the time, I thought I was doing the right thing.”
Following the tragic loss of Bernie in 2013, Coleen’s sister Linda died from cancer earlier this year. Linda battled cancer for many years, having first been diagnosed with breast cancer in 2005.
Coleen and her sister Anne have also been diagnosed with the disease in the past. Coleen was diagnosed with skin cancer in 2023, while Anne was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2000.
Most recently, their brother Brian revealed he’d been diagnosed with prostate cancer and is undergoing treatment.
Loose Women airs on weekdays on ITV1 at 12.30pm
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