Star of The Voice UK Tom Jones previously opened up about getting his late wife Linda pregnant when she was just 15 years old.

Tom Jones smiling

The Welsh music icon married his childhood sweetheart Melinda Trenchard, also known as Linda, when he was 16. They exchanged vows soon after they found out they were expecting their first child together.

Tom Jones holding wife Linda's hand
Tom married childhood sweetheart Linda at age 16 (Credit: Splashnews.com)
The Voice star Tom Jones said wife’s pregnancy was a ‘happy time’

During a 2015 interview with Big Issue, Tom revealed that when his wife got pregnant at 15, his family took it as a serious matter.

“All my aunties and uncles came to my house and had a big discussion about what should be done, while Linda and I sat in the corner all wrapped up in each other. And my mother noticed us and said: ‘Look, we’re all planning their lives, and they’re oblivious to what we’re saying over there.’”

Tom’s mother knew that when they were legally old enough, her son and Linda would get married.

“So as soon as Linda turned 16 we got married. We moved into the back room of my mother-in-law’s house, everyone chipped in to help,” he continued.

While the pregnancy wasn’t planned, Tom stated it was a “happy time” and “there was nothing negative about it”.

Linda gave birth to their son, Mark, soon after they tied the knot. He said fatherhood influenced him to “became a man very quickly”.

In 1987, Tom had a brief affair with model Katherine Berkery, who gave birth to his second son, singer Jonathan Berkery. He previously admitted he was not interested in meeting him.

Tom Jones smiling
Tom had a second son with model Katherine Berkery who he has nothing to do with (Credit: Splashnews.com)
‘Being a young father didn’t hold me back’

Years later, Tom realised that becoming a “young husband and father didn’t hold me back”. Instead, it gave him the determination to forge a successful life and career for his son and wife.

He noted that his downfall was that he was “doing shifts in a paper mill”, which sometimes “stopped me getting out to sing in pubs and clubs as often as I wanted”.

Looking back, Tom knew he was biding his time as he had “tremendous drive”.