Singer Bonnie Tyler has learned to swim at the age of 69 after a horror fall from a yacht.
The Holding Out For A Hero star says husband Robert Sullivan saved her from drowning more than a decade ago.
But it has taken until now to finally confront her fear of the water. The Welsh star said: “I’ve just learnt to swim in our infinity pool. What a grand age to learn.”
Recalling her near-death experience in Portugal’s Algarve, where she now lives, Bonnie said: “Robert was coming into the marina with my nephews on the back of a jetski and I went to the back of the boat to help. It was really wet and I slipped off.
“Robert pulled me out. The kids were terrified.
“Next day he had me in the pool, trying to teach me to swim, but it didn’t click until after lockdown.
“Everything fell into place and now I do 40 widths a day... but I’m still frightened to go in at the deep end.”
Asked why she didn’t learn to swim as a child, like most people, Bonnie replies: ‘My mother took me to the swimming baths and everything, but I had two terrible frights in the water.
"Once down at Oxwich Bay when I was about 10, I fell off an air bed and was screaming and my cousin saved me by pulling me out by my (hair) plaids.
"I lost my nerve, and when I was in the swimming pool I just couldn’t let go of the float. Every time they tried to take the float off me, I went crazy. So I learnt to swim very late. It’s never too late!"
Bonnie’s new album, The Best Is Yet To Come, will be released on February 26 on earMUSIC
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