Jane McDonald - 'We blame age for not taking on challenges - I'm up for anything!'

ok.co.uk:

Celebrating the start of a new year can be a bittersweet time, with Christmas decorations coming down and resolutions to stick to.

But Jane McDonald, the nation’s cruising queen, admits that she couldn’t be more excited for 2024 – particularly with her upcoming touring plans.

Jane, 60, tells OK! that she’ll be celebrating New Year’s Eve by embracing her Scottish roots. “For me, Hogmanay is bigger than Christmas,” she smiles. “A lot of people get really low at the end of the year and they find it an anti-climax, whereas I think because I’ve got Scottish roots, I see it as the start of a new year.” The TV presenter and singer is surrounding herself with gal pals tonight – with 2024 marking three years since her fiancé Eddie Rothe died aged 67 following his battle with lung cancer. “I do shed the occasional tear and especially at new year,” she says. “That’s when it hits me.” Despite dealing with the grief, Jane says that memories of Ed and her late mum Jean – who died in December 2018 – still make the holiday period “joyous” for her and she “refuses to be sad”. “If the two of them are looking down on me, I honestly think they wouldn’t want me to be lost in sadness wondering what to do with the rest of my life,” she says. “I still talk to both of them in my head. “I’ve got a group of girls and we decided to ring in the New Year together – so we’ll have a whisky because it’s Hogmanay and I’m Scottish,” she says.

Jane – who found fame on the BBC docusoap The Cruise in 1998 – admits that she “can’t be bothered” with New Year resolutions, but she is determined to brush up her piano skills before heading out on the “biggest” national tour she’s ever done. “I always think, ‘Yeah I’m going to get fit, I might learn another.