Vinnie Jones claims his new girlfriend Emma Ford had a conversation with his late wife Tanya about their romance

He told The Sunday Times newspaper: "I mean ... you know, um, it wasn't this big boom [when we fell in love], it was a steady burn ...

"She [Emma] said to me that she had had a chat with [late wife] Tanz and said, 'I'm going to look after him for you.' That was kind of a defining moment for me."

Vinnie went on to reveal he spent a long time wallowing in grief following Tanya's death, but he later determined he needed to move on with his life because she wouldn't have wanted him to be alone forever and he's now "at peace".

He added: "I don't believe in moving on. I believe in moving forward ... In grief, we're so upset because you only remember all the good things. That's your mind telling you that. Because it wants you to be unhappy; it wants you to be sad. It doesn't want you to go on a date or have a wonderful time.

"So the f****** guilt - you're feeling guilty all the time. But you've got to tell your brain, 'Wait a minute, it wasn't all roses and bells. Sometimes there were bad arguments'.

"So what I try to do is tell my brain, 'We're good now,' because I'm not going to feel sorry for myself. The way she's looking down on us and feeling about us, and the way I'm feeling back, and the way I'm conducting myself here now - yeah, I'm at peace.

"Because does she want you to be on your own? No, because you're not going to be happy. Human beings, most human beings, are supposed to be with somebody. It's the breed we are. It's like the swan. That's nature. That's how it's supposed to be."

Vinnie - who married Tanya in 1994 - previously admitted he worried he would never get over her death.

He told New Zealand's Stuff.co.nz: "[Grief] is a ghost ... It's a blanket. It wraps around you and it pulls you down. You don't know when it's going to happen, why it happens. It just happens.

"You've got to try and get your head above water, breathe in as long as you can because you know you're going to be pulled under again. My spirit may be broken inside, but I think I've got enough knowledge and enough experience to cope with it."