TV star Trisha Goddard revealed the heartbreaking way her family found out about her cancer diagnosis.
Trisha, 67, who is currently starring on ITV’s Celebrity Big Brother, appeared on the latest episode of Davina McCall’s podcast Begin Again. Over the years, the former chat show host has been open about her health and cancer battle.
In 2008, she was first diagnosed with the disease and managed to beat it. However, last year, after it returned and spread to her bones, Trisha announced the cancer was incurable.
Trisha Goddard cancer
While discussing her cancer battle with Davina ahead of her Celebrity Big Brother stint, Trisha discussed the first time she was diagnosed.
Upon finding out, she revealed she had “no control about the news” and had to deal with the diagnosis in the most heartbreaking way.
“I got a phone call saying, ‘We heard you are dying of cancer and if you don’t tell us the story, we’re going to print it anyway.’ I hadn’t told daddy, I hadn’t told my sisters – I told my kids. I hadn’t told anybody and here’s a newspaper going to out me and from then on it was a bloody nightmare which traumatised my kids to this day and traumatised me, and a large part of why I live in America,” Trisha explained.
She continued: “My kids had to go through security to come and see me. The first time round, I thought, oh, you know when you feel somebody who’s looking at you? They were paying people within the hospital… to get pictures of me. When I went to the supermarket. There were two boys ‘Oh, there’s the woman with cancer, we get £50 if you get pictures of her’. I had paparazzi hassling my housekeepers. My hospital room had to be moved so there wasn’t a window that they could use long lenses with.”
She recalled that her children “suddenly developed lots and lots of friends at school”, describing the situation as a “nightmare”.
When Trisha was diagnosed a second time, she stated she had “control” over the news and was able to share her story when she was ready to.
‘I’m astounded and suspicious if people like me’
On Monday (April 7), Trisha entered the Celebrity Big Brother house.
During the same podcast interview, she admitted she had previously been asked to do the show but turned it down. However, her oldest daughter influenced her to sign up to help raise awareness for the 6 million people living with a chronic illness.
“I don’t need people to like me, I’m astounded and I’m suspicious if people like me. I don’t need to have loads and loads of friends, I’m very much like my older daughter like this,” she said.
In 2008, Trisha Goddard received an initial diagnosis of breast cancer after going to the hospital following a running injury. In 2021, she told Piers Morgan that she felt a mix of emotions, crying and laughing at the same time.
After receiving her diagnosis, Trisha underwent months of chemotherapy, and fortunately, she received the all-clear.
Trisha Goddard reveals cancer is ‘not going to go away’
However, over a decade later, Trisha received the awful news that the cancer had returned when doctors found cancerous cells in her right hip.
In July 2022, Trisha was diagnosed with secondary breast cancer, also known as stage 4 breast cancer. While treatment is available, there is no cure.
“That was the first I heard that the cancer had come back,” she told Hello magazine. “And the first thing I asked was: ‘Am I going to die?'”
Trisha continued: “It’s not going to go away. And with that knowledge comes grief, and fear. But I must keep enjoying what I have always enjoyed.”
The former chat show host said she chose to open up about her diagnosis after a nosebleed at work.
“I can’t lie and I can’t keep making up stories. It gets to a stage, after a year and a half, when keeping a secret becomes more of a burden than anything else,” she said.
‘I’m very fortunate’
During an interview with Virgin Radio last year, Trisha said she would do and take whatever she could to stick around for longer.
“I’ll take every drug that they give me. I’m very fortunate. I grew up in East Africa – people die of a flipping common cold there you know!” she explained.
“Once upon a time I thought I’d never make it up this hill, so what I’m saying is treat every bit of every hill as a bit of training for the next hill.”
On Instagram, Trisha refers to herself as a “breast cancer thriver”.
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