Thomas Cohen on why he won't put a time limit on grieving for Peaches Geldof

'It has to be you that drags yourself out of it and faces that pain,' says the singer

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Almost two years after losing his wife Peaches Geldof, Thomas Cohen has explained his decision to keep talking about her death in a frank discussion about grief.

The singer and former S.C.U.M frontman spoke about his wife’s death at length for the first time in an interview earlier this month, where he vowed not to become a “traumatised, grief-stricken single father”.

Geldof, a vibrant TV personality, model and columnist, was being treated for addiction before her death. In her final interview, the 25-year-old had branded heroin "such a bleak drug".

Her body was found by Cohen in a spare bedroom of their Kent home in 2014. He had been staying at his parent’s house in south-east London for the weekend and returned to their home when he could not get in contact with Geldof, who was looking after their two young children.

Geldof had a “life-threatening” amount of heroin in her system and her death mirrored that of her mother Paula Yates, who died of a heroin overdose in 2000.

Reflecting on forming a relationship with someone who has experienced issues such as addiction or bereavement, Cohen told The Guardian: "I think any time you love someone, you’re slightly scared of it. But when they have addiction issues and the border of life and death is so constant and close and intertwined throughout the whole thing, it’s heightened. But that doesn’t take away from any of the experience or relationship.”

A number of tracks on Cohen’s new album Bloom Forever allude to Geldof’s passing, including the moment he discovered his wife’s body in their home.

“I needed to somehow transform that pain,” he said, describing turning his grief into music a cathartic process. “Although it is obviously a very painful process, it is a process. If I’d given myself a time limit, then I wouldn’t be able to do interviews now or even talk about it. And I do want to talk about it, in a very loving, kind way. Because that’s the only way of doing it. It has to come from you. It has to be you that drags yourself out of it and faces that pain, which is so terrifying. It’s not a case of saying: ‘Right I’m done with that,’ because it will come and bite you, basically.”