The widow of Shane MacGowan, Victoria Mary Clarke, has told The Brendan O'Connor Show on RTÉ Radio 1 that the Irish music legend "was putting up a really strong fight" when he passed away at home.

The 65-year-old singer-songwriter died on Thursday. He had been receiving treatment at St Vincent's Hospital in Dublin for several months. He was discharged on 22 November and returned home to spend time with his friends and family.

"He was trying very hard to breathe," Ms Clarke said of his passing.

"He wasn't ready to give up. He wasn't ready to stop fighting - but his body did it for him."

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Ms Clarke told the host that it was a "massive shock" to be told by doctors in recent times that her husband was coming to the end of his life.

"I actually thought I was going to die myself when I heard," she said. "My body just gave out."

She said Shane MacGowan had "always pulled through".

"He always did. He'd had so many of these. He'd been in intensive care so many times all over the years - in London and in Ireland and even in America."

Shane MacGowan: Twilight of a Celtic champion

She said her "extraordinary" husband was "very constrained physically" as he battled a number of health issues in his later years.

"We got to do so many things. We went everywhere in the world, we met so many people - just absolutely brilliant"

In recent months, she said the love of her life "was as happy as he could be" in dealing with serious illness.

"[He] Mostly smiled. He was very grateful - thankful - to all the staff all the time. [He] Always remembered to thank the nurses, thank the doctors, thank everybody who came into the room.

"Even if he was in pain and stuff, he was always pleased to be there - pleased to be somewhere, pleased to be alive, pleased to see whoever came in. And happy to have the chat."

She stressed that Shane MacGowan "wouldn't have thought of it as an end-of-life journey - and neither would I".

"We just thought, 'He'll be in hospital for a bit and then he'll get home'.

"We did our best to keep him entertained, so he had a lot of people visiting. Lots of musicians like Bono, The Edge, Mundy, Imelda [May], Daniel O'Donnell, Moya Brennan, Aidan Gillen, Jim Sheridan, Bobby Gillespie. There was a constant stream of visitors."

Ms Clarke confirmed that Shane MacGowan had completed an album before his death and that it "sounded good".

"He took great delight in the music he made," she continued.

She said her late husband was a spiritual person who did not pray for himself but did pray for her and for other people.

"He didn't feel any need for redemption. He firmly believed that Jesus was all about forgiveness and that that was the nature of the universe."

Speaking of the couple's life together, Ms Clarke said they loved simple things such as sharing porridge, watching their favourite TV shows and entertaining friends at their Dublin home.

Shane MacGowan: A Life in Pictures

She described him as someone who was "incredibly loyal to his friends".

"He loved them - and still does, from the beyond," she added.

"That's what it's all about: having fun in the moment, where you are"

She fondly remembered Shane MacGowan's love of his Tipperary roots, saying the Kent-born star "felt a sense of place and a sense of Old Ireland - the kind of Old Ireland that he romanticised and that he would've liked to preserve" when he was there.

"Of decent people sharing things and working together."

Ms Clarke agreed that the couple had "an amazing life together". They first met in the Royal Oak pub in north London when Ms Clarke was 16.

"We got to do so many things," she reminisced. "We went everywhere in the world, we met so many people - just absolutely brilliant.

"That's what it's all about: having fun in the moment, where you are."

The funeral of Shane MacGowan is to be held in his home county of Tipperary on Friday and will be open to the public.

The Late Late Show paid tribute to him on Friday night.

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The Brendan O'Connor Show, RTÉ Radio 1, Saturdays and Sundays, 11:00am

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