Sir Cliff Richard has quit Britain for a new life in New York.
The 78-year-old singer spent two years being investigated but was never charged after being falsely accused of historic sexual abuse in 2014 and his close pal Gloria Hunniford has revealed that the ordeal left him “disillusioned” with the UK.
Gloria, 79, told The Sun newspaper: “Cliff won’t come back and live here. He has made that jump now. He was very disillusioned with what happened.
“He likes the anonymity in America. Some people recognise him but he does not get it all the time like he does here.
“His place is in New York and he likes it there. He loves coming back to perform occasionally and is looking forward to playing summer shows this year.
“But I don’t think he will ever live here all the time again.”
Cliff has previously insisted he would never have got through the ordeal without his Christian faith.
He said of his religion: “I can only say it’s the major thing that helped me get through the past four years.
“Having no faith would have left me hopelessly lost and in the dark.
“My good friends were always there for me and I couldn’t have done without them either.
“But in the end, when you say good night and you close your eyes, there’s nobody else but you. But for me there was someone.
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“I never felt neglected or ignored by God. And that was a major factor. I believe it’s God’s presence that makes you see how committed other people are to you.
“With what I went through, it would have been easy to become self-centred.
“But I believed that the goodness that Jesus talked about let me see that my friends and family – and fans – were very concerned about me.
There were really moments when I could not stop weeping and thinking, my God, I will get through this.”
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