Sam Fox fights back tears as she reveals devastating secret family heartache behind her upcoming Celebrity MasterChef appearance

Sam Fox fought back tears as she spoke of her devastating heartache surrounding her upcoming Celebrity MasterChef appearance on Tuesday.

Former glamour model Sam, 57, became emotional during an appearance on The One Show as she revealed she’d been left heartbroken by a memory connected to the competition.

Singer Sam’s younger sister Vanessa died aged just 50 in March this year, just days after Sam finished filming Celebrity MasterChef.

She explained how she and her sister had practiced cooking a variety of dishes in preparation for the programme while filming themselves at home.

But earlier this year Vanessa was rushed from her north London home to St Bartholomew’s Hospital in the City where she was placed in a coma before dying over a week later.

Sam explained: ‘I’d practised [for MasterChef] for a good couple of weeks with my sister as my sister is a fantastic cook.

‘She’s always done the best Cottage Pie ever and so we practised together and I taped it – she’s my younger sister, you can hear her bossing me around and going ‘you’ve got to clear as you go, clear as you go!’

‘Unfortunately, I lost my sister just after the filming of MasterChef.

‘So yeah, my Cottage Pie was my sister’s recipe and I’ve still got all of her pots and all of her mash potatoes things.’

Sam added: ‘She’s gonna be so proud and she was so proud when I got the show because she’s a massive fan of the show.’

A representative for Sam said after Vanessa’s death in March: ‘Sam would like to thank the wonderful doctors and nurses for their care and support.

‘Sam and her family respectfully ask for privacy at this difficult time.’

The news was just the latest heartache to hit Sam, who only had one full sister from her dad’s first marriage to her mum, Carole Ann Wilken.

Devastating: Singer Sam’s younger sister Vanessa (left) died aged just 50 in March this year, just days after Sam finished filming Celebrity MasterChef

Former Celebrity Big Brother Sam and Vanessa were known to have been extremely close before the tragic death.

Just a month before Vanessa’s death, Sam opened up about the death of her partner Myra Stratton who died in 2015 following a battle with cancer.

She confessed she ‘didn’t want to show people’ she was in a ‘sad place’ after the death.

The singer and former glamour model admitted she struggled with ‘pretending’ to be happy and ‘couldn’t write any songs’ for two years.

Having fallen in love again with her new wife Linda Olsen, 50, Sam revealed it’s only now that she’s ready to release new music, with an upcoming album on its way.

While attending the ICON Awards in Support of prostate cancer charity Prost8, she exclusively told MailOnline: ‘When my my ex-partner died, I was with her for 16 years and that’s a long, long time.

‘For two years, I couldn’t write a lyric. I just couldn’t write because everything I was writing was very sad and I didn’t want to show people I was in that sad place.

‘It was very hard for me to actually release anything at that time and go on stage and pretend to be happy. I was quite sad but time is a healer and then I met Linda.

Tragic: Vanessa’s death came after Sam opened up about the death of her partner Myra Stratton who died in 2015 of cancer (L-R: Myra and Sam seen in 2010)

‘I didn’t think at that age, I’d ever meet someone again I was going to settle down with for the rest of my life and I have and I’m in such a great place.

‘You get to your 50s and you lose the, you know, Myra was the love of my life and we were together 16 years and I didn’t ever think I was going to be with anybody else.

‘I thought that was my life mapped out. So when I met Linda and I fell in love, it was instant love when we met each other. It really was and I’m just so happy.

‘I’m happy I’ve met such a wonderful, beautiful inside and out person and I can trust her implicitly. And she’s, as well as my mum being my rock, she’s my rock too.’

Samantha and Linda tied the knot in a lavish ceremony in Essex in July, after announcing their engagement in March 2020.

Hidden: She confessed she ‘didn’t want to show people’ she was in a ‘sad place’ after the death of her partner 

The former model walked down the aisle with her partner after they were forced to postpone their 2020 wedding due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Sam, who enjoyed global success with her 1986 single Touch Me (I Want Your Body), last put out an album in 2005, titled Angel with an Attitude.

She previously admitted it was a tough few years following Myra’s diagnosis with cancer in 2013, which she eventually passed away from August 2015.

Myra, aged 60, was Samantha’s romantic partner and manager for 12 years, with the pop star confirming her sexuality publicly the year they started dating.