Life after MacGowan: Victoria Clarke talks about grief and living with a music icon to Kerry podcasters

Victoria Mary Clarke has spoken with with podcasters Sarah Benner and Caroline Lyons for the first time since her husband Shane MacGowan’s death in November 2023.

In an exclusive interview on ‘What A Woman Podcast’, artist and author Clarke talks about Shane’s death being an event she could never prepare for until it happened, and that reacting to it is an instinctive emotion rather than one a person can prepare for.

“It was something I would have been afraid of [Shane’s death] for a very long time because very soon after me and Shane got together, people started telling me that he didn’t have long to live. That would have been in 1986, people started telling me Shane had six months to live. I did spent most of the time worrying that something was going to happen to him,” she said.

Clarke, who was only 16 when she met the music legend, talks about feeling ‘surprised’ after Shane’s death given that grief was not the ‘all terrible’ emotion she had assumed it would be. In fact, the ‘deep depression’ familiar to her in a past life did not materialise.

She tells how Shane was not impressed, nor interested, in famous people and the highbrow lifestyle that went with it. He was much more interested in the ‘regular people’ as Victoria puts it – something that manifested itself during his funeral.

“It did surprise me that we were able to celebrate Shane. At his funeral, there was a lot of singing, laughter, and dancing. People enjoyed the funeral….It was more about the real people. It wasn’t so much about the rock stars because they were a small part of Shane’s life. Most times he hung out with real people. What moved me the most was seeing the people on the street, they really took it up a notch,” she explained.

It will come as no surprise to hear Clarke describe Shane as a person who ‘lived in the moment’ and appreciated life. She paints a personal picture of a very spiritual MacGowan who every morning would bless himself and thank god that he was alive.

“He also had a deep connection with spirit and his religion. He was very devout and he prayed all day every day for other people…I knew when I met him that my life changed completely. It was really important, like the missing piece in my life has arrived. Even though we didn’t get together for a while, I said ‘now I know my destiny’ and I think we helped each other in so many ways to live the way we needed to live and do the stuff we needed to do…”

Victoria offers insight into how she coped with Shane’s primal image during the highpoint of his career when heavy drinking and fame competed with their life together as a couple. The prejudice and anti-Irish sentiment that Shane often experienced is also talked about.

“He possibly managed to come along at a time when being Irish, particularly in England, was something people tried to hide… Shane was like, ‘No. I’m going to make Irish music hip all over the world’. And he managed to do it; he managed to make people feel good about being Irish and all the songs their parents might have played,” Victoria said.

To hear the full interview with Victoria, click on below link:

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