Shirlie and Martin Kemp: It's a Love Story by Martin Kemp & Shirlie Kemp

Author:Martin Kemp & Shirlie Kemp [Kemp, Martin & Kemp, Shirlie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Pop culture, Music, Memoir, Biography
Publisher: Mirror Books
Published: 2020-10-28T16:00:00+00:00

12

“They Need to Operate”

Shirlie

Martin’s near-death experience started on the Los Angeles freeway.

We’d been living in LA for the last few years, enjoying the easy living that comes with California. Multi-lane traffic, beautiful people driving their beautiful cars at 90 miles an hour, the sunlight gleaming off the bumpers, and The Beach Boys on the radio. The great and the good of Hollywood was all here buzzing, and concentrating on major deals.

Zooming around with Martin was very different from crawling around Hampstead at four miles an hour. We loved driving along the Pacific Coast highway with the sea on the left and the Hollywood hills on the right. California really felt like home. I put my arm across the back of his neck as he was driving. It’s something that I did a lot.

“Shirlie, just rub back of my head for me,” he’d beg as he often would – and I was always happy to do it.

Martin had never looked healthier or more handsome. He was glowing and tanned, he loved going to the gym, and was really looking after himself, in accordance with California culture. Every time he went to an audition, he was competing for parts with the most gorgeous people on the planet – people who lived on their looks, who would choose wheatgrass over whisky every time.

I reached over to rub his head, and that’s when I noticed it felt strange and out of shape. I wasn’t sure I recognised it. Still, I was more curious than anxious.

Maybe he’d overexerted himself at the gym, or maybe he just needed to adjust the car seat.

“I think you should see someone – I think you have a bump on your head,” I said. “It’s probably nothing, but get it checked out.”

It wasn’t a soft tissue lump – it was his skull, as if it had changed shape. Martin told me he’d take care of it and went to see a doctor.

“They said it was nothing,” he said, laughing. “You worry too much!”

Sometimes I wonder whether Martin ever went to the doctor, or if he just wrote it off as another one of Shirlie’s flights of fancy. He knew that ever since I’d come back from China, I’d become a semi-professional worrier. I blew things out of proportion and he calmed me down. But even I stopped worrying about the lump.

Still, a couple of months later, the lump was still there. I asked myself if it had grown, but it was hard to tell. We’d come back to Highgate for Christmas. We’d planned to stay in London for a little while to spend time with the family. Frank and Eileen, his mum and dad, came to stay on Christmas Day, and it was such a happy occasion.

Being at home in frosty England in December felt a little bit magical, after all of that California sunshine. Harley and Roman were breathless with excitement about Santa’s visit and having the chance to spend time with their grandma and grandpa. I’d cooked dinner in our cosy kitchen, and everything had gone strangely smoothly.

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