Former X Factor singer Jake Quickenden believes his late dad and brother visited him as butterflies to tell him they were proud of him.
The reality TV favourite saw one of the insects land near him on the first night of his new Full Monty stage show. Jake, who lost his father Paul and teenage brother Oliver to bone cancer, says: “I feel like I get signs from them all the time.
“There was a butterfly in the theatre before my first show on The Full Monty and it just landed next to me. That’s probably the tenth time it’s happened.
"I always link butterflies with my dad and my brother visiting to let me know they’re there and they’re proud of me.” Jake, who starred in I’m A Celeb and won Dancing On Ice, appeared on Celebrity Help! My House Is Haunted earlier this year.
He says: “I still get the shivers sometimes or my hair standing up, and I feel like somebody is there but I just imagine that’s my dad or my little brother now, checking in on me..” The 35-year-old would love to become a telly ghost hunter himself.
He says: “I’ve always been a huge believer in the paranormal so if anything ever came up, any ghost shows, I’m in. “For me it comes down to going through loss at a young age – you want to believe there’s something else, that those people you’ve lost can visit you.”
But the star admits this time of year is tough. “I celebrate my dad and brother,” says Jake. “But I do find Christmas a bit hard. To lose a child now I’m a dad, I could never get my head around how hard that must be.”
Jake, who lives with wife Sophie, son Leo and stepson Freddie, also wants to explore the topic of grief further in the new year. He adds: “I want to get into documentaries and do one about grief, how that can affect people and how you can help.”
Jake is currently on a break from The Full Monty, which resumes in Liverpool next month. He and others in the cast – including former Corrie actor Bill Ward and EastEnders star Danny Hatchard – go starkers on stage, just like in the 1997 film. But Jake is perfectly relaxed with getting his bits out in front of an audience.
In fact, as this is his first acting role, he’s more concerned about his dramatic skills. He laughs: “I’m most at home when I’ve got no clothes on!“We do get fully nude but I think the beauty of the show is you get a lot of women going to watch the strip but when they leave, it’s probably the last thing they remember because the story is so relevant, even today.
“It touches on mental health, body issues, homophobia so there’s a lot of important messages in there.“Then we get our kit off and people have a really good time.“ For me, it was more about not letting the team down and performing to the best of my ability. “We’re so used to it now it would feel a bit weird if we didn’t take our clothes off at the end.”
Jake has also been working with YouTube Shorts which is celebrating hobbies across online platforms and highlighting pet portraits as a popular choice in the UK this year. He hosted a masterclass alongside YouTube Shorts creator and artist Emily Rose, resulting in a picture of his own cat Purdey. Jake adds: “If you can learn something from watching videos then fair enough. In such a busy world, just have a bit of time to yourself, I think it’s a great thing.”
To try out pet portrait painting and other hobbies, go to youtube.com/shorts.
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