Holden was heartbroken when her twin brother drowned during the early 1960s. In 1973 her marriage broke down, leaving her with three teenage children to bring up. In 1988 she married Louis Manson, a solicitor and Business man, but she was already in poor health and remained so during her final two decades. In 1999, one of her twin daughters died from a brain tumour, but she remained cheerful and courageous until her own death in 2005. She was survived by her husband, the son Simon, and remaining daughter of her first marriage, and two stepdaughters and four stepsons.