Brutal way Trisha Goddard ended marriage and ‘awful’ family tragedy

The TV legend has been married four times, and has been about the tough moments in her own life

Trisha Goddard has been entertaining us for years. Best known for her long-running ITV chat show Trisha, the 67-year-old is back on our screens tonight as she appears on BBC quiz show Blankety Blank.

Trisha, who now lives in the US, took part in Dancing on Ice and starred on Celebrity Big Brother earlier this year amid her second battle with breast cancer.

She beat the disease in 2008, but revealed in 2024 that it had returned the year before and was stage four and uncurable but treatable.

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But what else do we know about the TV legend? Below we look at her mental health struggles, the family tragedy that still causes her heartbreak and the brutal way she ended one of her four marriages.

Trisha Goddard’s heartbreak after ‘awful’ family tragedy

Trisha, who has three younger sisters, lost her sister Linda in 1988. She died after taking her own life. Her sister had battled schizophrenia, and Trisha has gone on to become a mental health activist.

She has also suffered her own mental health issues, having battled addiction and attempted suicide on at least two occasions.

On Instagram, Trisha paid tribute to her sister as she urged people dealing with mental health issues to seek help: “School photo with my darling little half-sister, Linda. We called her Winnie and she was the youngest of we four girls.

“About 10 years after this photo was taken, she was diagnosed with schizophrenia. Ten years after that after numerous hospitalizations, she was dead. An awful death by suicide.

“The #stigma and ignorance surrounding her illness virtually obliterated who she really was. She is the reason I became a #mentalhealthactivist @world_psychiatric_association advisor @mindcharity patron @timetochangecampaign #ambassador @homestartnorfolk #patron and #nlppractitioner.

“I have spent the last 32 years fighting for rights, #mentalhealthservices and #mentalhealthawareness and worked in #australia #china #norfolkuk and #colorado doing all I can for those with #mentalillness and their families. Along the way, I’ve struggled with my own mental health and watched one of my daughters struggle with hers.

“June 18th was Winnie’s birthday and I’m sure it’s no coincidence I stumbled across this photograph of her while sorting through old pictures…You’re still in my heart Winnie…. You’re still in my heart. Please…. look after your mental health.

“And if you’re struggling, there is zero shame in asking for help…. @giveusashoutinsta @mindcharity @heads_together @calmzone @rethinkmentalillness @timetochangecampaign”

Brutal way Trisha Goddard ended marriage

Trisha has been married four times and divorced three times. Her first short-lived marriage was to Robert Nestdale, an Australian politician, in 1985.

Trisha claimed he was emotionally abusive and she later learned that he was gay. She told the Guardian previously: “He would ‘accidentally’ lock me in the house.

“He didn’t like me wearing a white shoe, because it made a woman’s foot look big. It was very, very damaging.”

Trisha wrote about attempting suicide at the height of the abuse in her 2008 autobiography ‘As I Am’. She wrote: “I was like an animal, howling the place down at times, and at others just whimpering and shivering.

“I hate going into details now. But I ended up in hospital under suicide watch. It was the final straw.”

Nestdale died in 1989 and Trisha went on to marry TV producer Mark Greive, with whom she had two daughters, Billy Dee and Madison, in 1993. After they split, she married psychotherapist Peter Gianfrancesco, and they divorced in 2017 after almost 20 years together.

Trisha revealed her “biggest mistake was hanging on for too long” and revealed the brutal way she had ended the marriage.

She told the Guardian that as Gianfrancesco was in Australia, and she was in the US: “I had to FaceTime him the day before he was about to be served out of the blue with divorce papers, and I had to tell him: ‘Look, I’m divorcing you and the papers are coming tomorrow.’”

In January 2022, Goddard announced on social media that she and her partner of four years, Allen, whom she often colloquially refers to as “Boo”, had got engaged. They married in August of that year.