The Beach Boys‘ Brian Wilson is mourning the loss of his wife, Melinda, who passed away Tuesday, January 30, at the age of 77.
“My heart is broken. Melinda, my beloved wife of 28 years, passed away this morning,” he wrote on social media. “Our five children and I are just in tears. We are lost.”
“Melinda was more than my wife. She was my savior. She gave me the emotional security I needed to have a career,” he continued. “She encouraged me to make the music that was closest to my heart. She was my anchor. She was everything for us. Please say a prayer for her.”
Wilson also shared his wife’s obituary in the post, in which she was described as “a force of nature and one of the strongest women you could come by.” It added, “[S]he was a woman empowered by her spirit with a mission to better everyone she touched.”
Wilson married Melinda Kae Ledbetter, a Cadillac salesperson, in February 1995, although they had previously dated from 1986 to 1989. She went on to become his manager, and the couple adopted five children together. She was credited with helping separate Wilson from his former psychologist, Eugene Landy, and was portrayed by Elizabeth Banks in the 2014 film Love and Mercy.
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