Ross Richard “Rylan” Clark’s mum Linda was diagnosed with skin cancer in 2021, and he has since updated his fans with developments regarding her health.
After Tulisa Contostavlos’ stint in the I’m A Celebrity jungle led to comments about her appearance, Rylan rushed to her defence.
Fans of the presenter noticed how different she looked when she entered the jungle, compared with before. She’d spent a few years out of the limelight.
Rylan highlighted her reasons for undergoing cosmetic procedures. She suffers from bell’s palsy, a facial paralysis condition. There is therefore a medical reason for her to under certain procedures – just as there was a medical reason for the Clarks to pull out of Celebrity Gogglebox after one season.
Rylan Clark’s mum suffers from Crohn’s disease
During an episode of Loose Women in 2019, Rylan – then Rylan Clark-Neal – told the panel about his mum’s ordeal with Crohn’s disease.
“My mum has suffered all my life from severe Crohn’s disease,” he said, per Digital Spy.
“And I don’t think Crohn’s gets spoke about as much as it [should]. I nearly lost my mum last year, again. For the third time.”
Crohn’s is an inflammatory bowel disease. Symptoms include diarrhoea, abdominal pain, weight loss, anaemia and fatigue. There is no cure.
Its effects led Linda to develop sepsis, which is often fatal. However, it hasn’t proved so yet, in her case.
Linda and Rylan Clark had to leave Gogglebox because of health issues
Crohn’s disease patients can develop sepsis as a result of abscesses or perforations of the intestinal wall, or following abdominal surgery and the use of immunosuppressive drugs.
Rylan and his mum used to appear on Celebrity Gogglebox together. However, they had to stop because of health battles. At the time, they said publicly that it was her Crohn’s disease that had prevented them from continuing.
However, they later told Dermot O’Leary and Alison Hammond on This Morning that it was in fact his health that had held them back.
Regardless, on their exit from the show, Rylan told the Mirror he felt “really lucky to be part of the first [season] and the second one.
“It’ll all just depend on what we’re doing and if my mum’s well enough. We’re never gonna say never we don’t know what position we’re going to be in eventually.”
Yours Magazine quotes Rylan as saying Linda has suffered Crohn’s disease since 1984 – four years before giving birth to him.
“The condition really shaped my childhood,” he said. “She has had to undergo multiple operations to remove damaged parts of her bowel and she takes medication every day.”
Rylan reveals his mum has skin cancer
In late 2021, Rylan revealed on his BBC Radio 2 show that his mum Linda had been diagnosed with skin cancer.
He and his mum had been talking about her having stitches under her eye, and a biopsy.
Rylan chose to contextualise her medical requirements for those among his listeners who didn’t know what was going on.
“I should probably tell people what we’re talking about,” he said.
“So mummy, and it’s all fine, she’s got skin cancer on her face, but she’s absolutely fine. It’s not life-threatening and it’s just spread a little bit, so we’re getting it all cut away.”
Linda has a fall in Marbella
During a trip to Marbella, Rylan’s mum fell and broke an arm and a leg.
Added complications from Crohn’s disease made things worse, and Rylan took extra leave from his Radio 2 show to look after her, per Yours.
After a successful surgical procedure, Rylan hired a private jet to fly Linda back to the UK, saying at the time that his first experience on a private plane was “on a medical one, how’s your luck”.
Rylan later joked on Instagram that he knew she would be OK as soon as she came round from the surgery.
How? Because she asked him if she could have a new driveway.
Later still, Rylan told The Sun his mum was doing “really really well”.
“She’s stumbling about Lakeside (shopping centre), so she’s very much back to normal.”
Christmas in the Clark household
Rylan explained during an episode of Fearne Cotton’s Happy Place podcast in 2022 that he built his mum a home five minutes up the road from his.
“With how my life is, I was lucky enough that I was able to build my mum a house and get her that, and it’s five minutes up the road from me,” he said.
“But the worst thing I ever did was give her my gate code.”
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During the lead up to Christmas, he posted an adorable video of a visit he and his mum received from… guess who…
Santa Claus.
“It’s that time of the year,” he wrote. “Mummy Linda loves it.”
Read more: Rylan Clark on his intense ‘connection’ with Rob Rinder: ‘We’d marry each other tomorrow’
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