Shameless star Tina Malone announces death of husband Paul Chase at 42

Shameless star Tina Malone has revealed she has suffered a devastating personal blow.

The 61-year-old on Thursday announced that her husband, personal trainer Paul Chase, had died aged 42, leaving her “totally devastated and heartbroken”.

“It’s with total heartbreak I write this,” she shared on X (formerly Twitter).

Stream the world’s best reality, entertainment and true-crime shows free on 7plus

“My husband Paul Chase Malone passed away this morning, we are totally devastated.”

Malone, who played Mimi Maguire in the original UK version of Shameless from 2005 to 2013, did not reveal her husband’s cause of death.

The star was immediately inundated with condolence messages from fans.

“So sorry to hear this, Tina, sending my love to you,” one fan wrote.

“What?? Oh, Tina, I can’t believe this,” wrote another.

“Oh Tina. So sorry to hear this terribly sad news. Please look after yourself. Sending love and condolences,” wrote a third.

The couple married in 2010 and had a daughter together, Flame, via IVF when Tina was 50 years old.

Later, they temporarily broke up and spent time apart before reuniting again in 2020, saying “the love never went away”.

“We’re working on things now, our problems were compounded by depression, but I learned that in tough times you have to pull together and not apart,” Malone told Closer at the time.

“We were either arguing, bickering or not talking at all, I’d end up putting Flame to bed and falling asleep next to her.”

The couple celebrated their 13th wedding anniversary in August 2023, when paparazzi photographers snapped them kissing on a park bench in Liverpool.

Apart from daughter Flame, who is 11, Malone also has a 41-year-old daughter, Danielle, from an earlier relationship.

Last year, Malone said her relationship with her husband was still full of passion.

“Even in times when I’ve loathed him, and we all have that in relationships, in the worst of times — never ever has he not turned me on,” she declared.

“We’ve always had that attraction.

“Paul and I still have so much passion, after 13 years you know each other so well.

“He still gives me butterflies.”

Apart from Shameless, Malone has also appeared in Brookside, Celebrity Big Brother UK and prison drama Clink.

She made headlines in 2010 when she dropped more than 70kg after having gastric band surgery.

The actress hit the headlines again in 2017 when she was sacked from a pantomime gig after being found in possession of cocaine.

Malone claimed the cocaine had been planted by someone else and received a caution from police.

She also received an eight-month suspended sentence in 2019 after revealing James Bulger killer Jon Venables’ new identity in a Facebook post.

Her most recent TV appearance was in 2020’s Tin Star.

She met Chase at a fitness boot camp, and they fell in love despite an almost 20-year age difference.

“People had plenty to say about the age difference, but at the end of the day, love is love, isn’t it?” she once said.