Trinny Woodall has reflected on the death of her ex-husband, a decade ago.
TV style guru and entrepreneur Woodall was married to former drummer and businessman Johnny Elichaoff for 10 years until 2009.
He died from suicide in 2014, after reportedly struggling with long-term painkiller addiction and financial difficulties.
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Woodall told Jamie Laing on his Great Company podcast that after Johnny’s death she felt “nothing worse can happen now, so I should take the greatest risk” – selling her home to invest in her now-hit brand Trinny London.
“It was a time when maybe I should have knuckled down and made things as safe as possible for Lyla,” she said, of the daughter she shares with her late ex-husband.
“But I also knew that this was a crossroads in my life…Emotionally, I couldn’t have lost more than to lose my daughter’s father for her.
“…It makes you stronger,” she said.
Woodall described death as “terrible and final” during the interview.
“Suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem, when you look at what it is,” she said.
“It is like that tsunami that comes and it kind of trawls the guts out of you.
“…I have got inner strength and I had a lot of people relying on me when that happened.
“I needed to be the one who would look after everyone, because also it was a place I felt comfortable in, to be the one who would just take care.”
Woodall admitted she “didn’t grieve for many, many years” because she was a dealing with the “fallout” she claimed Johnny left behind, but a few years later began to miss him.
The 60-year-old said she wants her daughter to remember the “unbelievably special person” her father was as November marks 10 years since his death.
“I think I want to do a dinner this year and just remember Johnny,” Woodall added.
Woodall rose to fame alongside Susannah Constantine fronting the BBC’s seminal styling series What Not To Wear in the early-Noughties.
– The Samaritans can be contacted on 116123 or email jo@samaritans.org
