Martine McCutcheon‘s estranged mother Jenny Tomlin has emotionally reached out to the star to beg for a reconciliation after having cut her off following the tragic death of her son.
The former EastEnders star, 49, and her author mother, 69, were once close, however, in a heartbreaking new interview, Jenny admitted she pushed her daughter away after suffering an emotional breakdown following the loss of Martine’s brother Laurence John (affectionally known as LJ) in 2022.
Confessing the pain of the distance between her and Martine, Jenny admitted that she ‘misses’ her daughter so much that it ‘physically hurts’ and is now reaching out to say ‘sorry’ after losing contact.
Speaking to OK! magazine, Jenny said: ‘When I lost LJ, I detached. I was so heartbroken I couldn’t talk to Martine. There was no big row – Martine tried to contact me for months, but I didn’t answer. Martine was grieving and needed me, too. I want the chance to say sorry. I miss her so much – it physically hurts.’
She went on to add: ‘I didn’t contact Martine. I abandoned her. I was so wrapped up in my own grief that I was neglecting my other child. That was the start of it, and things just… snowballed. And here we are.’
Jenny told how the pair were briefly in touch last October when Martine ‘texted me out of the blue’ to ask a favour of her husband Alan, however, Jenny admitted the meeting was ‘awkward’ with a ‘heavy atmosphere’.
![Martine McCutcheon 's estranged mother Jenny Tomlin has emotionally reached out to the star to beg for a reconciliation after having cut her off following the tragic death of her son [Martine and Jenny pictured in 2006]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2025/07/26/20/100661869-14943641-Martine_McCutcheon_s_estranged_mother_Jenny_Tomlin_has_emotional-m-8_1753559329064.jpg)
Martine McCutcheon ‘s estranged mother Jenny Tomlin has emotionally reached out to the star to beg for a reconciliation after having cut her off following the tragic death of her son [Martine and Jenny pictured in 2006]
![Jenny admitted she pushed her daughter away after suffering an emotional breakdown following the loss of Martine's brother Laurence John (affectionally known as LJ) in 2022 [Martine and LJ pictured together]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2025/07/26/20/100661871-14943641-image-a-7_1753559305277.jpg)
Jenny admitted she pushed her daughter away after suffering an emotional breakdown following the loss of Martine’s brother Laurence John (affectionally known as LJ) in 2022 [Martine and LJ pictured together]
While there were vague plans to unite at Christmas, nothing came of it and their relationship has fallen silence ever since, with Jenny’s attempts at getting in contact proving fruitless.
Jenny noted that she could relate to David and Victoria Beckham’s heartbreak over their estrangement from eldest son Brooklyn, adding it’s ‘heartbreaking’ to be estranged from or lose a child.
The Behind Closed Doors writer went on to recall LJ’s sudden death in 2022 from acute ischaemic heart disease and diabetes which left her devastated, with Martine going on to comfort her mother following the tragedy.
However, Jenny recalled going ‘down a deep, dark pit’ that led her to being assessed by a ‘mental health team’, with Jenny going on to push her daughter away amid her immense grief.
She also told how along with losing Martine, she’s essentially lost her 10-year-old grandson Rafferty, confessing that this separation ‘felt like another death’.
She has tried to make amends as recently as a few weeks ago, driving down to the Love Actually star’s Surrey home where she ‘banged on the door’ and ‘shouted her name’, but nobody answered.
Jenny suggested that she had no choice but to do the interview to beg for Martine to get back in touch, adding that there’s not a day that she doesn’t think of her daughter.
She added: ‘I don’t think I’ll ever stop trying when it comes to my girl. If I could speak to Martine, I’d tell her how sorry I am. I’ve lost one child, I don’t want to lose another.’
Jenny concluded that she’s seen what silence does to families and doesn’t want to be ‘another story of regret’, and hopes that she and Martine can ‘find our way back’.
![When I lost LJ, I detached. I was so heartbroken I couldn¿t talk to Martine. There was no big row ¿ Martine tried to contact me for months, but I didn¿t answer' [Martine pictured with her grandmother, mother and brother L-R]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2025/07/26/20/63338951-14943641-Family_Martine_pictured_sharing_a_joke_with_her_grandmother_moth-a-15_1753559573736.jpg)
When I lost LJ, I detached. I was so heartbroken I couldn’t talk to Martine. There was no big row – Martine tried to contact me for months, but I didn’t answer’ [Martine pictured with her grandmother, mother and brother L-R]
!['I didn¿t contact Martine. I abandoned her. I was so wrapped up in my own grief that I was neglecting my other child. That was the start of it, and things just¿ snowballed. And here we are' [LJ, Martine and Jenny pictured L-R]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2025/07/26/20/63340039-14943641-Together_LJ_pictured_with_sister_Martine_and_his_mother_Jenny_To-a-17_1753559730414.jpg)
‘I didn’t contact Martine. I abandoned her. I was so wrapped up in my own grief that I was neglecting my other child. That was the start of it, and things just… snowballed. And here we are’ [LJ, Martine and Jenny pictured L-R]
MailOnline have reached out to Martine’s representatives for comment.
Jenny’s message for Martine comes amid a difficult time for her daughter, who was recently declared bankrupt – just months after the break up of her marriage, MailOnline revealed.
The actress filed a petition for her insolvency over a debt to a finance company, official public records reveal.
Martine’s financial woes follow soon after the very public split from husband Jack McManus, with whom she shares a ten-year-old son.
The couple, who had married in a lavish event at Lake Como in Italy in 2012, announced their split late last year.
And her bankruptcy was issued just two months after Martine and musician Jack, 42, sold the family home they had shared, a five bedroom detached home in Surrey for £1,355,000, as they went their separate ways.
The bankruptcy order was made in her married name – Martine McManus – despite her being formally single by the then.
![Jenny's message for Martine comes amid a difficult time for her daughter, who was recently declared bankrupt ¿ just months after the break up of her marriage, MailOnline revealed [Martine pictured with Jack]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2025/07/26/21/88901669-14943641-Martine_revealed_in_August_that_her_husband_Jack_had_left_her_af-a-18_1753560250964.jpg)
Jenny’s message for Martine comes amid a difficult time for her daughter, who was recently declared bankrupt – just months after the break up of her marriage, MailOnline revealed [Martine pictured with Jack]
![The actress filed a petition for her insolvency over a debt to a finance company, official public records reveal [pictured in 2018]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2025/07/26/21/100662493-14943641-image-a-19_1753560263362.jpg)
The actress filed a petition for her insolvency over a debt to a finance company, official public records reveal [pictured in 2018]
It was issued in March at the County Court in Guildford, Surrey following a petition filed by a company called LDF Finance to whom she owed an unspecified sum of money.
But that wasn’t the only financial blow to strike her soon after the marriage split: her company Raven Music Ltd was also wound up just last month at the request of HMRC due to unpaid tax bills, MailOnline has learned.
The most recent accounts for the company reveal that it owed more than £175,000 to the taxman, payable in the 12month period after February 2022.
Martine’s total personal tax bill has not been revealed, and it is not known if the Official Receiver will apply for a public examination of her bankruptcy which would disclose her financial affairs to the world.
This article was originally published by a www.dailymail.co.uk . Read the Original article here. .