‘How has it been two years when it feels like yesterday?’: Rosa remembers Jamie Bartlett on his death anniversary

24 May 2024 - 09:41
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Jamie Bartlett's girlfriend Rosa Onious is still grieving the loss of her partner.
Jamie Bartlett's girlfriend Rosa Onious is still grieving the loss of her partner.
Image: gallow images

The late actor Jamie Bartlett's girlfriend Rosa Onious has reflected on two years without him on the anniversary of his death. 

Bartlett, who died on May 23 2022, would have turned 56 on July 9. 

Rosa took to her Instagram timeline to share memories of him, speaking about how she was struggling to come to terms with his death.

How has it been two years when it feels like yesterday? I will forever despise this day. A day that stole from us. You will forever live in my heart, J. You are loved. If we didn’t cross each other's path, I wouldn’t be the strongest person I am today. You built me,” she wrote.

“Last year I spent this day miserable, crying and in bed. But this year I am going to rejoice and celebrate the memories and the love we shared. Our story was meant to end the way it did and I am grateful for it. Continue to rest, my king.”

Rosa was with Jamie in his last hours. Previously speaking to TshisaLIVE, Jamie’s partner of nearly four years recounted how she had gone to wake the star from an afternoon nap, only to find he wasn’t breathing.

“He said he was tired. For two years we knew it as his couch. He liked taking afternoon naps on the same spot on the couch. It is his couch. He did that for a long time. It was a norm for us. We’d switch off the TV and move to the dining room. He would lie there and snore a lot,” Onious said.

“Later on my mother said: ‘Jamie is not snoring. That’s weird.’

“That’s when I was like, it is 5 o’clock, time for him to go to the pub to be with his friends. He goes there every day at 5 o’clock to be with his boys. I went to wake him by calling ‘Jamie’ and he was not responding. 

“Then I shook him and I’m like, ‘Wake up’, and he did not respond. I called my mom to try wake him. My mom tried everything. He did not wake up.

“I called the ambulance. They took forever to come but luckily I know a friend who knows First Help and they came within 30 minutes. They tried to resuscitate him but it was too late,” she said, weeping uncontrollably. 

An autopsy revealed the star suffered a cardiac arrest.


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