THE LATE pop legend Linda Nolan's beloved stepson Lloyd has died following his own battle with cancer.
The tragedy comes just months after the family said goodbye to the iconic singer following her 20-year fight.
Lloyd passed away on Tuesday, just under four months after Linda’s death in January.
She was laid to rest in a sparkly pink coffin, with many famous faces coming to pay their respects.
Both Linda and Lloyd were battling incurable cancers at the same time, leaning on one another for strength.
A close family friend said: “They were fighting side by side, Linda would finish her treatment and text him to check in. They joked about their meds, shared their side effects, cried together too. Linda really thought he’d outlive her. She needed that belief.”
Lloyd, the son of Linda’s late husband Brian Hudson, was diagnosed with throat cancer in September 2023.
The tumour was so large, and so dangerously close to his vocal cords, that surgery was ruled out.
He began a gruelling course of radiotherapy, supported closely by Linda, who was undergoing her own immunotherapy treatment at the same time for secondary breast cancer which had spread to her brain.
Just weeks into his treatment, Lloyd was rushed to A&E after suffering a bleed. Ulcers had formed around the tumour, complicating his recovery.
By April 2024, there was reason to believe things were turning around as scans showed the throat cancer had cleared.
“Linda was absolutely over the moon,” said a friend. “She kept saying, ‘I’ll be the one to go, but he’s going to be fine.’ She clung to that.”
But just as Linda was devastatingly told that her brain tumours had started growing again, Lloyd was told his cancer had spread to his lungs and it was now incurable.
“I sobbed when my consultant told me,” Linda said at the time. “My heart sank.”
She had started a new course of chemotherapy, including a cutting-edge drug called Enhertu, in the hope it might offer a lifeline. But privately, she was more focused on Lloyd.
Linda Nolan’s brother reveals cancer diagnosis just weeks after her death – as he becomes 5th sibling hit by disease
By Freya Parsons
INDA Nolan's brother has shared his devastating cancer diagnosis just weeks after her death, becoming the 5th sibling to be hit by the disease.
Brian Nolan, 69, had just planned a memorial for his sister who died in January after her 20-year battle with cancer before receiving the news.
Tragically, grieving Brian was then diagnosed with cancer himself three days later.
“I just want cancer to leave us alone,” Brian told the Mirror, the fifth of the eight Nolan siblings.
The Nolan family is heartbreakingly no stranger to cancer, losing Bernie to breast cancer in 2013 aged 52, before Linda, 65, earlier this year.
He added: “You’re never ready for somebody to say: ‘Yes, you’ve got cancer’.
"It’s like being hit by a train. You start plunging into the abyss of: ‘I’m going to die’."
His Loose Women host sister Coleen "couldn't speak" when he broke the news saying that he went completely numb before wanting to punch walls and scream.
A close friend explained: “He was her light. She could handle her own diagnosis, but watching him go through it too, it was like history repeating itself with Brian. She was devastated.”
Another loved one added: “Linda always said cancer had taken enough from her family. Now it’s taken even more. She would be heartbroken.”
Lloyd’s health deteriorated over the summer. In August 2024, he was told the cancer had spread to his brain, mouth and liver, just as Linda announced her own treatment was no longer working.
Despite the grim outlook, he kept going. Friends say he rarely complained and wanted to stay strong for the people around him.
“He was brave, selfless and dignified,” one said. “He never wanted pity, he just wanted to beat it. But this disease is cruel.”
Confirming the news on Good Morning Britain last August, Linda told Kate Garraway and Richard Madeley: "We have had a rough time with it and my stepson Lloyd has just been diagnosed and it's like 'go away! Leave us alone.'"
Lloyd’s father, Brian Hudson, died of cancer in 2007, a loss that devastated Linda and bonded her deeply with her stepson.
“They had a special relationship,” said a friend. “Lloyd wasn’t just Brian’s son, he became Linda’s too. She loved him with all her heart.”
“If Linda were here, she’d be screaming that this isn’t fair. She fought for everyone else, now we’ve lost them both. It’s more than any family should bear.”
Linda died in January 2025, from double pneumonia, after living with secondary breast cancer since 2017. It had spread to her hip, her liver and finally her brain.
Her funeral in February was attended by family, fans and friends from across the entertainment industry, including comedians Tommy Cannon and Paul Chuckle, 911 singer Lee Brennan, So Solid rapper Lisa Maffia and reality star Charlotte Dawson.
Just weeks later, her brother Brian Nolan revealed he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer, adding yet another layer of sorrow to a family already in mourning.
“It’s like wave after wave,” said a friend. “The Nolans have been through so much and now this.”
