Actress Tina Malone has confirmed her former soldier husband Paul Chase took his own life and that she will “never get over it”.
Malone, best known for playing Mimi Maguire in Channel 4 comedy Shameless, confirmed on Sunday that the veteran had been driven to suicide on March 13 by PTSD.
She told the Mirror that he died aged 41 after his mental health plummeted in the year up to his death.
“I’ve not spoken about this publicly until this minute,” she said. “It’s the first time I’ve said it and confirmed it. Paul did commit suicide. I believe in transparency.”
Malone, 61, is also well known for playing Mo McGee in Brookside and married Chase in 2010. She had her daughter Flame Chase with him in 2013 when she was 50.
Malone also has daughter Danielle, born in 1982, from a previous relationship.
She added: “I’ll never get over it. I miss him so badly and I love him so much. One thing I know… he’s in a better place than here.”
Chase was in the 22nd Regiment of the Cheshires and served in Northern Ireland, Belize, Iraq, Afghanistan and the Falklands.
Malone said that her husband had turned to drink and drugs due to anxiety and depression which brought on a feeling that he was “lost and useless”.
“Paul hadn’t come home the previous night. I heard sirens, saw flashing blue lights, and I knew,” she said of his passing.
Male veterans aged between 25 and 44 had a higher risk of suicide than men in that age range in the general public, according to a report published last month.
At least 100 Falklands War veterans have now killed themselves.
Malone met Chase in 2009 at a boot camp and started a relationship despite their age difference.
She has said she wants to launch a charity called Paul’s Flame on May 28, which would have been Chase’s birthday.
When he got drunk he’d ramble about the army and I’d tell him, ‘You have depression, you have emotional issues because of what you’ve seen’. But he’d sweep it away. He’d say, ‘How will I get a job if I have that?’ He admitted it in the end but by then things had gone too far.
“This is a man who served his country. The only way I can get through is by fighting for change, addressing the issues facing veterans and soldiers, trying to help others.”
