Jill Halfpenny has found love again as she continues to process her grief, seven years after the devastating death of her partner Matt Janes.

Matt tragically fell ill while he was at the gym and passed away in January, 2017 from a fatal heart attack. He was only 43 years old and his demise unearthed painful memories for the former EastEnders star, as she couldn’t help but remember her father who also died from a heart attack while paying football in 1979, when she was only 4 years old.

Jill, who was known on the BBC One soap as Kate Mitchell, gave herself time before moving on and finally found a new man named Ian as she said while chatting with Prima Magazine.

Jill Halfpenny has found love again, seven years after the tragic death of her partner Matt Janes (Image:Can Nguyen/REX/Shutterstock)

The actress told Prima Magazine about her new partner Ian, adding he had been her “cheerleader” (Image:Courtesy of Nicky Johnston/Prima UK/PA)

“It sounds so cheesy, but I think Ian and I met at the perfect time”, she told the publication. “After Matt died, I didn’t know if I’d ever meet anyone again, but Ian is my cheerleader – I know I’ve met somebody who I love and who loves me.”

The West End veteran also opened up about her grief, claiming that learning news ways to cope with her pain all over again at 48 years old has made her a “better person.” She added: “I was in my 20s when I realised a lot of my behaviour was down to this unprocessed grief. I got divorced, I stopped drinking alcohol and then it all seemed so clear – the jigsaw pieces fit.”

“Grief has made me a better person. Processing the grief has softened me and I’ve become less judgemental about myself. I am my own worst critic, but I have got better”, she explained. This led her to write a memoir, titled A Life Reimagined, about how to deal with deep grief as she insists it should be “talked about.”

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“There’s this notion that grief shouldn’t be talked about because it will be upsetting. But I need to talk about it; I want Matt in the room with me. I want to keep him alive in my mind”, Jill added.

Jill, who was once married to actor Craig Conway for three years before embarking on a fling with Ant McPartlin, opened up about Matt’s death to Line of Duty actor Craig Parkinson on the Two Show Podcast in 2019, saying his demise had felt like a “double loss” as she was painfully reminded of her father Colin’s own death, as mentioned.

“My grief at losing Matt, my partner, was so brutal and so shocking but then what happened was it brought out all of the grief from my dad as well”, she told Craig Parkinson. “It was like dealing with a double loss – a loss I’d never actually dealt with. I just found myself thinking, ‘Oh my god, this is unbearable. What am I going to do? I cannot cope. I just want cessation, this feeling to stop’.”