Tears For Fears singer opens up about finding love again after the death of his first wife

3 September 2026, 15:58

There was a time when they ruled the world.

Well, not literally. But throughout the 1980s, Tears For Fears certainly dominated the global charts with their unique brand of synth-driven sophisti-pop.

The British duo of Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith, aka Tears For Fears, formed in Bath, England, in 1981. But it wasn't long before they became a household name.

After the release of their debut album The Hurting in 1983, their second album Songs From The Big Chair transformed the band into a global phenomenon.

They became global superstars with chart-topping songs like 'Shout' and, of course, 'Everybody Wants To Rule The World'.

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But the pair struggled with fame and fortune, as well as internal fighting, which led them to part ways for nearly a decade.

Singer Roland Orzabal has opened up about the pain and "suffering" in his career in his new memoir Welcome to Your Life: Love, Death & Tears for Fears.

Candidly, however, he also reveals the extent of grief he struggled through after the death of his first wife, and how he was able to turn over a new leaf with his new love.

In his new memoir, Roland Orzabal has chosen to reveal the man in the shadows, getting incredibly personal from the get-go.

Rather than beginning his book with tales of how Tears For Fears became one of 1985's greatest success stories, or how his childhood shaped him musically, it starts with his first wife.

Instead, the book opens up with details about the tragic death of Orzabal's wife of 35 years, Caroline.

She died of alcohol-related dementia in 2017, and was only just 54 years old when she passed.

“I wanted to start with that because it fundamentally changed my life,” Orzabal told PEOPLE magazine recently.

“It was something that I don’t think you ever really come to terms with. I also wanted to start with that because it bled automatically into my new relationship [with my now-wife Emily Rath].

"The point of that chapter is, ‘Did the decision I made prompt the outcome?’ A lot of people are going to miss that because it doesn’t sound like it’s possible. But if you believe that thought can create your life, then it’s an interesting question," he continued.

Tears For Fears - Shout (Official Music Video)

Interwoven with the emotions about his late first wife are anecdotes about the band, at the height of their fame as well as when times became tough, like when Curt Smith left the band due to creative differences.

But it's Orzabal's story with his late first wife Caroline that is truly heartbreaking.

During the late 2000s, her physical and mental health deteriorated rapidly after going through menopause, then using alcohol to combat her ailments. Or at least that's what she told her husband.

”I think what was going on with Caroline was she was going through menopause, and she was also becoming severely alcoholic,” Roland recalled.

“She used the menopause as an excuse for her alcoholism, depression and dementia. That’s why it was difficult for me to try and argue with a woman who’s absolutely convinced. Once the menopause was clearly over, things still got bad.”

He has regrets, and wishes he did things differently, like taking "any alcohol out of the house."

"Maybe the damage had already been done by then. This is the problem with past, present and future because we always say, ‘What if I’d done that?’"

"But there’s absolutely no evidence that things could have gone any other way... I don’t know if it could have gone any other way.”

After battling addiction himself throughout the grieving period after Caroline died in 2017, fortunately, there was yet another chapter in Roland's life to come.

Whilst on tour with Tears For Fears, he met American photographer Emily Rath in a restaurant and immediately thought "that's my wife".

“She has a huge belief in the better part of me,” he gushed about Rath. “And she has a huge belief that the better part of everyone actually can overcome the negative part, even if it means a lot of work.

"So in that kind of sense, she’s very, very different... She is my future. It’s been two years after Caroline’s death that I started to look at the future. It was an incredible change, absolutely incredible change.”

The band's most recent album The Tipping Point in 2022 was largely written about Orzabal's experience grieving his late wife.

But despite admitting that he's not great at writing the "happy-go-lucky stuff", his beautiful new life has inspired the music he's currently writing.

Orzabal married Rath in 2020, and the couple welcomed their daughter Eula last year, who is Orzabal's third child but his first daughter.

“It is beautiful, becoming what they call a girl dad. That’s another thing that’s completely changed my life and my perspective.

“There’s some beautiful stuff,” Orzabal revealed to PEOPLE about the new music he's been writing in the studios.

“I was really inspired when Emily was pregnant and the birth of my child. So I’ve written a couple of things which are very specific about Eula and about being an older father.”