Sarah Beeny speaks about breast cancer on TV for first time since diagnosis — and wants to change bald 'shame'

Virgin Radio

8 Nov 2022, 17:01

Cancer fighter Sarah Beeny has opened up on screen about her battle with the disease for the first time since sharing her diagnosis. Appearing on Loose Women, the presenter admitted that she spent decades worrying that she would get breast cancer like her mother who passed away from the disease.

Now, she wants to change the stigma and 'shame' surrounding losing your hair through chemotherapy.

Talking about finding a lump on her breast in July, she explained how she spent decades 'waiting' to get breast cancer after losing her mother aged ten, when she was just 39.

Sarah said: "My mum died when I was ten and I've just always assumed that I would get breast cancer.

"Anyone else who's lost a mum would feel this - she died at 39 so when I got to 39, I was like, 'Here it is, this is it, this is the moment'. And then I got to 40 and was like, 'Oh no, that wasn't it - that's not it!'.

"So 40 was a bit of a bumpy moment, because I wasn't sure what you do at 40 when you're not dead. Then life went on and then I hit 50 and then I was diagnosed, and I thought, 'Oh there it is. It was just waiting'."

Sarah urged women to trust their instincts as the lump was initially dismissed as nothing to worry about until a few months later.

"My mission, that I would like everyone to know, is that you should trust your own body.

If you do have a lump and they say it's all clear, if it doesn't feel right go back again for another opinion."

Speaking about losing her hair due to chemotherapy, which she started in September, Sarah said: "It's weird because I was trying to work out why losing your hair is so traumatic, because it shouldn't be. It's only hair isn't it?

"I think it's wrong we should feel so much shame… I thought, I have a tannoy and an option to speak about this, and I think if it helps one person.

"Maybe just because I feel it's a bit empowering for me and maybe it's a bit empowering for someone else to look at it and go, 'Okay, you know what, I can just go out with a bald head too'."

The property expert, who is currently filming a documentary about the disease and losing her mother 40 years ago, told the Daily Mail's Weekend Magazine: "Having no hair often seems to be associated with anger.

"You're a victim or it's a punishment, like Fantine in Les Misérables, or Cersei Lannister in Game Of Thrones. People are ashamed of their bald heads. 

"The more I talk to people in this boat, the word I keep hearing is shame. And I thought: Why? If you've got breast cancer and you're having treatment, the fact you have no hair is not a reason to be ashamed. 

"I don't want to be ashamed. I don't want other people to feel ashamed. I want to change that stereotype."