About the song
Tom Jones’ Wife Linda – The Woman Who Endured Hundreds of Affairs and a Secret Lovechild
Behind every great man, they say, stands a great woman. For Sir Tom Jones, that woman was Melinda “Linda” Trenchard — his childhood sweetheart, his lifelong partner, and the quiet soul who endured decades of heartbreak behind the blinding lights of fame. While the world saw Tom as the ultimate ladies’ man — charming, magnetic, irresistible — Linda lived in the shadows, carrying the weight of his choices with silence, dignity, and a love that refused to die.
Their story began long before the tuxedos and Vegas spotlights. They were just kids growing up in Pontypridd, Wales, when Tom — then a cheeky, energetic boy with a booming voice — fell head over heels for Linda, the girl with soft eyes and a fierce spirit. She became pregnant at 16, and they married in 1957. The two started their life together with little more than hope and devotion. “She was my first love,” Tom later said. “And she always will be.”
But when Tom’s career exploded in the 1960s, with hits like “It’s Not Unusual,” “Delilah,” and “What’s New Pussycat?”, fame came at a devastating price. His electrifying stage presence made him an international sex symbol — and his reputation as a womanizer became legendary. It was once claimed that Tom had slept with over 250 women a year during the height of his fame. There were affairs with models, actresses, and even fellow singers. The tabloids couldn’t get enough.
Yet Linda never left. She stayed in their Los Angeles home, far from the flashing cameras, raising their son Mark and keeping her dignity intact. “She hated the spotlight,” Tom admitted. “She didn’t want to be famous. She just wanted peace.” Still, the peace was often broken by scandal — none more shocking than the revelation that Tom had fathered a love child with model Katherine Berkery in 1987. For Linda, it was a deep betrayal. “It hurt her terribly,” Tom later confessed. “I don’t think she ever forgave me completely — and I don’t blame her.”
Despite everything, Linda refused to divorce him. Friends described her as proud, private, and fiercely loyal. “She loved him,” one friend said, “but she also knew who he was. She made her peace with it in her own way.” Over time, the once fiery girl became reclusive, retreating from public life completely. While Tom performed around the world, Linda spent her days in solitude, tending her garden and her horses — far from the noise of fame.
When Linda was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2016, Tom was devastated. He canceled all his shows and stayed by her side until her final moments. “She was my life,” he said after her death. “I held her hand as she slipped away. I didn’t think I could go on.”
In the end, the woman who endured so much — who stood by her husband through affairs, heartbreak, and scandal — was the only person who truly had his heart. “Linda was the love of my life,” Tom said, his voice breaking. “We went through hell and heaven together. I’ll never stop loving her.”
Their marriage was far from perfect, but it was real — a story of passion, pain, forgiveness, and undying loyalty. In a world that often remembers Tom Jones for his voice, it’s Linda’s quiet strength that remains his most haunting legacy.
