By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2024-12-06 17:11:51 | Updated at 2024-12-22 21:51:57
2 weeks ago
Harry Connick Jr's wife Jill Goodacre was a top Victoria's Secret model in the 1980s.
She looked sizzling in lace lingerie for the brand as she also appeared on the cover of Cosmopolitan magazine.
The looker was so famous that in 1994 she appeared as herself in an episode of Friends with Jennifer Aniston and Courteney Cox. The episode was titled The One with the Blackout.
The 60-year-old Colorado native battled breast cancer for five years then returned to health. The former model made the reveal in People magazine in 2017 where she said a lump was spotted during a sonogram causing her to have two back-to-back surgeries. Later the drug Tamoxifen made her gain weight.
At the Met Gala in NYC in 2018 she looked incredible again as she wore a form-fitting black dress.
This week Harry posted a photo with the love of his life to Instagram and the power couple looked as happy as ever at a football game.
Harry Connick Jr's wife Jill Goodacre was a top Victoria's Secret model in the 1980s. She looked sizzling in lace lingerie for the brand
Jill often landed magazine covers, like this one, the November 1988 issue of Cosmopolitan
At the Met Gala the stunner showed off a trim waistline and toned arms as she took her photos on the gold carpet.
The beauty modeled a black gown that seemed to have a spiderweb design with a mermaid finish.
Her hair was partly pulled back and she had on pretty makeup with diamond earrings and a black clutch purse.
Her talk show-host husband struggled with the cancer news, he told People last year: 'I was scared I was going to lose her, absolutely. I wasn’t going to let her see that, but I was.'
One of the hardest thing for the mother-of-three to cope with has been the weight from the Tamoxifen drug she's had to take.
'I've always been a pretty fit person, and so to be just rounder and heavier and not to really be able to do much about it — that’s been hard. It’s taken a lot out of my self-confidence,' said Jill.
Early days: The couple in 1991 in LA
In October 2012 Goodacre had a routine annual mammogram. The results were fine. But then she was told to get a sonogram as well because she had 'dense breasts.'
During the sonogram 'something was detected' and Jill was asked to undergo a biopsy.
The results were hard to hear: the bikini model had Stage 1 invasive ductal carcinoma.
'I was scared I was going to lose her, absolutely. I wasn’t going to let her see that, but I was. I know from losing my mom that the worst can happen. She’s my best friend, and I really don’t know what I would do without her,' said the crooner.
Harry lost his mother to ovarian cancer when he was only 13-years-old.
Telling their kids was hard. Together the couple has Georgia, Sara Kate and Charlotte. 'It broke my heart,' said Jill.
She immediately needed a lumpectomy. Radiation would come next, though she was able to skip chemotherapy.
'The lumpectomy didn’t come back with clean margins,' she said. The site explained that pathology tests showed she also had 'extensive ductal carcinoma in situ, a less invasive form of the disease.'
She had to go in for a second surgery the very next day.
Here Jill and her husband Harry were seen looking elegant at the Met Gala in 2018
Together the couple has Georgia, Sara Kate and Charlotte. Here they are seen with two of their daughters in April 2018
'And then radiation absolutely wiped me out,' added Jill.
But the worst part has been taking Tamoxifen or five years.
Harry said it's been hard for her to look fuller.
'It’s a part of how the cancer and the treatment impacted her, and it was a real issue, even though she will always be the most beautiful woman in the world,' said her husband.
They waited so long to tell the world because they didn't want to 'somehow jinx it,' she told People.
'But we wanted to be well on the other side of things before we told everybody. The doctors all say that after the five-year mark, things look optimistic, so we’re starting to feel pretty good,' she added.
'I’ll always be a little nervous, always having to get checked, always hoping it doesn’t come back.'
Jill talked on her husband's talk show Harry about her cancer diagnosis.
On the show, which People got an exclusive look at, Harry tells his wife: 'All I wanted to do was grow old with you and have as many years as possible as I could with you.'
This week Harry posted a photo with the love of his life to Instagram and the power couple looked as happy as ever at a football game
Jill responds with: 'You always used to say that: "I just want to grow old with you."'
'It’s true. I wanted to know what you would look like older. … I made the right decision,' he added.
Texas native Jill married Harry in 1994 when they were both at the top of their careers.
She was a model who worked for Victoria's Secret and appeared on the cover of Cosmopolitan. And she appeared as herself on Friends.
Harry has sold over 30 million records and appeared in movies such as Hope Floats with Sandra Bullock. Connick Jr was a judge on American Idol with Jennifer Lopez and Keith Urban. Now also had his own talk show called Harry.
