Shane MacGowan’s widow Victoria Mary Clarke is in the middle of dealing with the grief of her late husband. The musician died of pneumonia on November 30th at the age of 65. His funeral took place on December 8th. Clarke shares intimate insights on her social media and now let followers know that she received grief counseling.
The journalist and author’s Instagram post shows a photo of her Shane in an armchair. He holds a record in his hands. She captioned the picture: “Grief can hit you like a tornado when you’re back to living a normal life and not running around doing things. Yesterday I would have been happy if someone had offered to shoot me, but today I went to grief counseling and made pasta sauce and the idea of giving up seems crazy. I think grief can drive people crazy, but when you let it out, when you cry and lament and talk about it, you feel it move and it brings you back to life.”
See the Instagram post here:
On December 25th, the 56-year-old shared with her followers how deeply she mourns the death of the Pogues singer: “I want to be with him so much that it physically hurts.” “Today is real very heavy, much heavier than I expected. I just can’t stop crying.” In the picture under which the words are written, the couple can be seen posing in front of the camera. Christmas Day also marked MacGowan’s birthday.
Clarke’s post on MacGowan’s birthday:
Mourning as a process
In an interview with the Guardian, which appeared on December 18, 2023, the widow spoke about how she was coping well with the grief: “Actually, I’m doing well because I have the feeling that he’s still there. Especially when I sit in his chair or look at his picture, I feel like he is communicating with me. I can tell him things and I feel that he is watching me and is completely with me.” In the same interview, she also shared her thoughts about wanting to soon publish a book with the lyrics to previously unreleased songs by the Irish musician.