Fear of cancer ‘stopped Caroline Aherne from having the kids she always wanted’
Star's former fiancé Brett Whitford tells of the comedian's fear over passing on the disease to her kids and her struggles with depression
TRAGIC Caroline Aherne never fulfilled her dream of having children as she was terrified they would be blighted by cancer, her former fiance has revealed.
Brett Whitford, 51, who proposed to Caroline in 2002 after almost a year together, said the couple often talked about having a family together.
But he said the much-loved Mrs Merton star was afraid her children would suffer the disease she had fought all her life.
Caroline, 52, who was diagnosed with a rare eye cancer as a baby, also battled bladder cancer before developing fatal lung cancer in 2014.
And after her death last week, Brett said she would have been “a wonderful mum”.
He told The Sun on Sunday: “Caroline always felt that she didn’t have long to live and that the cancer she had would come back one day.
“It coloured the way she lived her life, because there were things she felt she couldn’t do.
Caroline always felt that she didn’t have long to live and that the cancer she had would come back one day
“We talked about having kids, but she said she couldn’t because of the hereditary nature of the cancer and her other health problems.
“She didn’t want them to go through what she had been through. She always used to say she wouldn’t be any good with kids anyway.
“But I can remember her playing with my nieces and nephews when she was with me in Australia and she was really sweet with them.
“She had a good heart, and such love and warmth. She would have been a wonderful mum.”
Brett continued: “I remember Caroline and I first spoke about kids after her character Denise and husband Dave had a baby in The Royle Family. There was one particularly sweet scene in the third series where they are leaning over the baby’s cot, and Caroline really loved that.
“Her character might not have been fussed about children, but she was so different. She definitely had the emotional capability to have kids.
“She just didn’t have the physical health to do it.”
Australian Brett, now a millionaire businessman, first met Caroline in March 2001 just days after she quit Britain for a new life in Sydney.
They quickly became inseparable, spending almost every day together and taking a series of romantic holidays all over Australia.
And despite Caroline confessing her troubled past, including alcoholism, a suicide bid and a stint in The Priory, they moved in together.
Brett said: “Caroline and I were incredibly close and I will treasure the memories we had together. In a way we created our own private world. She was incredibly smart. We could talk for hours and days about different topics. She was as interested in Big Brother as politics.
“She was also very mischievous. There wasn’t a prank she didn’t love.
She had a good heart, and such love and warmth. She would have been a wonderful mum
“I was attracted to her smile, I was attracted to her beauty, and I was attracted to the fact she was the worst dressed person in Britain, because she revelled in that.
“The time I spent with her had a massive impact in my life, and I’m happier for it.
“Meanwhile she did things that she wouldn’t have done if she’d stayed in Britain. Together we travelled all over Australia. We went over the Blue Mountains in a helicopter and snorkelled underwater, we explored the beaches. All of those things were outside Caroline’s comfort zone.
“Her friends would never have expected her to do them, but she loved it. She was happy then.
“But like a lot of comic geniuses, she faced a lot of challenges. And at times, her personality would change.”
Brett said he first noticed signs of Caroline’s depression three weeks into their romance, when she flew into a black mood, refusing to talk to him.
In the following months, after she began working on a TV script, he said her moods deteriorated, pushing their relationship to the brink.
She also turned to drink to help cope with her problems, sometimes sinking two bottles of champagne a night before lashing out in a rage.
He said: “She was on regular medication that gave her at times the highest of highs, at times the lowest of lows.
“Watching the person I loved so much, because I loved her deeply, suffer so greatly was the toughest time of my life.
“But it wasn’t Caroline’s fault. She did nothing wrong. Her problems were completely beyond her control. She was trying to help herself and she wanted to get better.”
Despite his feelings for Caroline, by the Christmas of 2001, Brett had decided to move out.
Watching the person I loved so much, because I loved her deeply, suffer so greatly was the toughest time of my life
The comic left Australia behind, returning home to work with English producers on a new project.
But in January 2002 she got in touch with Brett and begged him to join her. And after missing her badly, he decided to propose.
He said: “I had the ring made, a gold band with nine diamonds, one for each month that we’d been together. When I arrived at her apartment, Caroline was in her pyjamas and I ushered her to a large sofa, opened up the ring and asked her to be my wife.
“She said yes straight away. We only told close friends and family though. Caroline hated people knowing about her life.”
I’ll always wonder if by being there I could have put her on a different course
They began planning for a future together in London, but soon the relationship was torn apart by rows, including one which saw Caroline hurl her ring at Brett’s head.
He called off the engagement and returned home to Australia. He said: “There were times when I thought about giving up my life to become a carer for Caroline, and at times I still feel guilty I didn’t do more.
“At the time, I just couldn’t cope with her problems. But I’ll always wonder if by being there I could have put her on a different course.
“We did continue talking on the phone for years after we split up. I hadn’t spoken to her in recent years, because she was increasingly ill and she became very isolated.”
Millions of fans mourned after the TV favourite lost her battle with lung cancer at her home in Timperley, Cheshire, last week.
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Brett said: “Caroline’s death was incredibly sad, but I think the saddest thing was that she died while she was at home alone.
“She used to say because she’d spent so much time in hospitals she loved them. She said being cared for made her feel at peace.
“Caroline faced so many challenges that few people knew about, but she was amazing, she was special and she was good.
“She was a beautiful person and the world is a sadder place without her in it.”
