Alert – Johnnie Walker’s widow says she ‘hated’ being his carer as he battled terminal respiratory disease for five years before his death as she recounts their turbulent relationship

Johnnie Walkers widow Tiggy has revealed she ‘hated being his carer’ after he was diagnosed with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis in 2019.  

The terminally ill radio star, who hosted Sounds Of The 70s and The Rock Show, died at the age of 79 in December 2024 – two months after calling time on his 58-year broadcasting career.

Now his third wife Tiggy, who was married to the former BBC DJ for 23 years, has opened up about their turbulent relationship from infidelity, a cancelled wedding, both partners’ cancers and an unproven allegation of sexual assault.

Speaking to The Sunday Times, she said: ‘Someone recently asked me, was I glad I married Johnnie. I am now I’ve come out the other side, but it was a heck of a journey. But I believe our two souls had made a pact and so I kept forgiving him.

‘Our first five years together were b****y awful. I don’t know why I stayed. But over the years we grew closer and closer and there was so much understanding and trust. But if I’d known what life was going to be like with him I’d have run.’ 

Tiggy met Johnnie in 2001, at the Union members’ club in Soho, and gushed their ‘connection was instant’.

Johnnie Walkers widow Tiggy has revealed she ‘hated being his carer’ after he was diagnosed with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis in 2019

The terminally ill radio star, who hosted Sounds Of The 70s and The Rock Show, died at the age of 79 in December 2024 – two months after calling time on his 58-year broadcasting career; pictured 2024

At the time she was producing television ads for the likes of Volvo, VW, McDonald’s, Lenor and Grolsch while he was presenting Radio 2’s Drivetime, then the nation’s most popular drivetime show.

He had been married before, once to Frances Kum, with whom he had two children, Sam and Beth, both adults when Tiggy met him, and for six months in 1992 to Alison McDowall.

When he met Tiggy, he was not long out of rehab for drugs and alcohol. He had gone there after Radio 2 suspended him in 1999.

Three months into their relationship, he admitted to a one-night stand with an ex-girlfriend and the shock, Tiggy believes, caused her to go immediately into menopause.

The couple split, but within weeks Tiggy took Johnnie back because she was so ‘hook, line and sinker in love’. 

The pair were later set to get married but Johnnie cancelled their wedding, leaving Tiggy ‘humiliated’, but they eventually did tie the knot in front of their closest friends months later. 

Tiggy also had breast cancer and admitted she had ‘thrown my wedding ring at him’ several times over the years they were together. 

Johnnie passed away on New Years Eve in 2024 at the age of 79 after suffering with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. 

Now his third wife Tiggy, who was married to the former BBC DJ for 23 years, has opened up about their turbulent relationship from infidelity, a cancelled wedding, both partners’ cancers and an unproven allegation of sexual assault; pictured 2004

She said: ‘Our first five years together were b****y awful. I don’t know why I stayed…. But if I’d known what life was going to be like with him I’d have run’

Tiggy is now hoping to start up her career again and is hoping to find someone in the future but doesn’t want to be put in a situation where she has to ‘forgive somebody again’ like she did with Johnnie. 

Tiggy also admitted she wasn’t always welcomed at high profile event as she detailed what happened when she met Sharon Osbourne. 

She added: ‘At an Elton John tribute, I told Sharon Osbourne she looked lovely and she looked me up and down like a piece of shit, her face saying, ‘How dare you address me directly?’  

Johnnie, who has been a joyous presence in the lives of Brits for more than half a century, was diagnosed with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis five years prior to his death.

It is a rare, progressive illness that scars the lungs and increasingly robs him of breath.

He hadn’t left his home in Shaftesbury, Dorset, for nearly a year when his health deteriorated at a terrifying rate or, with his wife Tiggy saying ‘he fell off a cliff’.

At the end of October, he presented his final Sounds Of The 70s show on BBC Radio 2 and hosted his last episode of The Rock Show as he retired due to ill health.

He signed off his last broadcast saying: ‘Walk into the future with our heads held high, and happiness in our hearts.’