Coleen Nolan was overcome with emotion after her sister Linda was honoured at the 2025 Olivier Awards on Sunday evening, three months on from her tragic death.
The actress and singer passed away on January 15 2025 aged 65 following a 20-year breast cancer battle and suffering from double pneumonia.
Taking to her Instagram Stories the Loose Women star, 60, shared a snap of her TV as she captured the moment her beloved sibling was featured in the show’s In Memoriam segment.
Alongside a black and white photo of the late actress it read: ‘Linda Nolan. Actor & Recording Artist, with Coleen captioning her post: ‘Thank you @Olivierawards for the beautiful tribute to Linda’.
The ceremony recognises excellence in theatre and after first finding fame alongside her sisters in pop band The Nolans, Linda went on to star in a string of West End musicals including Blood Brothers and Prisoner: Cell Block H.
It comes just weeks after Linda and Coleen’s brother Brian revealed he had also been diagnosed with cancer.
Coleen Nolan was overcome with emotion after her sister Linda was honoured at the 2025 Olivier Awards on Sunday evening, three months on from her tragic death
Taking to her Instagram Stories the Loose Women star, 60, shared a snap of her TV as she captured the moment her beloved sibling was featured in the show’s In Memoriam segment
Just three days after Linda’s death, grieving Brian, 69, was devastatingly diagnosed with stage two prostate cancer – the fifth of the Nolan siblings to battle the disease.
As well as Linda, the Nolan siblings also lost Bernie to breast cancer in 2013 while Anne, 74, was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2000 and Coleen, 60, was told she had skin cancer in 2023.
‘I just want cancer to leave us alone,’ Brian, the fifth of the eight Nolan siblings, heartbreakingly told The Mirror.
Brian described his diagnosis as ‘like being hit by a train’ and said he thought the worst when he was first diagnosed.
‘You start plunging into the abyss of: ”I’m going to die”,’ he admitted.
‘The urologist stood up and said ”We’re going to treat this and we’re going to cure this”, I’m focusing on that and hope to God I can have the courage my sisters had.’
The cancer has thankfully not spread and Brian will undergo surgery to remove his prostate gland.
Brian decided to keep his cancer fears quiet from his siblings as they were already devastated by Linda’s deteriorating condition before her death in January.
Linda (L)passed away on January 15 2025 aged 65 following a 20-year breast cancer battle and suffering from double pneumonia (pictured with Coleen in 2023)
The ceremony recognises excellence in theatre and after first finding fame as a singer, Linda went on to star in a string of West End musicals including Blood Brothers (pictured 2006)
The Nolan sisters rose to fame in the 70s and 80s (pictured together on Dawson and Friends)
‘I thought I was doing the right thing and I still do, it would have meant more tears and we were already knee-deep in tears and knee-deep in grief,’ he added.
Amid his own struggles, he spent 28 hours sitting by Linda’s bedside in her final days.
His sister, Loose Women panelist Coleen, admitted she was lost for words after Brian told her of his shock diagnosis and went ‘completely numb’ and wanted to ‘scream’.
However, she also shared her pride at her brother’s strength and said they will face the challenge as a family.
Brian first went to the doctors in November after noticing he needed the toilet more, leading to doctors giving him PSA tests – which use blood to screen for prostate cancer.
He then had an MRI scan just after Christmas and a biopsy in the New Year before he was diagnosed with prostate cancer following Linda’s death.
Brian is being supported by his wife Ann and has decided to speak out about his diagnosis to raise more awareness about prostate cancer and its symptoms.
Linda was first diagnosed with stage three breast cancer in 2005 before getting the all-clear in 2006 – but in 2017 she was diagnosed with a form of incurable secondary cancer in her hip, which spread to her liver in 2020.
Three years later, she shared the news that the cancer had spread to her brain, with two tumours discovered on the left side of her brain which left her struggling with her speech and balance.
And she issued an update last August that the tumours – which were thought to be stable – had grown.
It comes just weeks after Linda and Coleen’s brother Brian revealed he had also been diagnosed with cancer (pictured at Linda’s funeral)
The Nolan Sisters left to right: Maureen, Linda, Coleen and Bernie pose with their two brothers Tommy and Brian
The Irish star was part of family group the Nolans, alongside her sisters Coleen, Maureen, Denise, Anne and Bernie – who died of breast cancer in 2013 aged 52.
Brian’s sisters have a history of cancer, with Linda, Coleen and Anne all receiving diagnoses as well as Bernie passing away from the disease.
Linda had admitted last November she ‘never expected to make it to Christmas’, meaning that the festive period meant all the more to her.
She said at the time: ‘I can’t wait. Not to be morbid, but I didn’t think I’d make Christmas, so it’s a real bonus.
‘We love Christmas as a family and we’re all going to gather at Denise’s. It will be great. We all have such a good time when we get together so I can’t wait. I especially love seeing all the little ones and how excited they get.’
And just before the festive season she admitted to OK! magazine she was afraid of death, saying: ‘What scares me the most? Dying. I am sad that it is going to happen.
‘When people start talking about ‘putting things in order’ – I don’t want to talk about that. I don’t want to think about my affairs. It’s so final.
‘Every birthday and every Christmas, I want to make it to the next one. This year, for instance, I will certainly raise a glass and say, ‘Here’s to 2025’.
‘I have to be like that, I can’t be a grey cloud of doom.’
