British comedian and Great British Bake Off presenter Sue Perkins has revealed that she has been living with a brain tumour for eight years.
The benign growth is located on the BBC presenter’s pituitary gland, and has prevented her from conceiving children. The tumour was uncovered when Perkins was a undergoing medical examinations for the series The Supersizers.
In the show, Perkins and co-host Giles Coren ate bizarre historical food, and doctors discovered the tumour while investigating what effect the diet had had on Perkin’s health.
“I’m lucky that it’s benign so it’s not in itself a worrying thing,” Perkins told Good Housekeeping magazine.
“Sometimes it’s big and makes me mad, and sometimes it’s small and is in the background. Sometimes it screws up my hormones. I have various tests now to make sure the side effects aren’t too onerous,” she said.
Ta for sweet tweets about my prolactinoma. It's benign & non-symptomatic. All fine, Let's focus on those less fortunate in the world. X
— Sue Perkins (@sueperkins) September 1, 2015
Her tumour's positioning affects the secretion of hormones, meaning that Perkins in unable to have children. The Great British Bake Off star, 45, is currently in a relationship with Anna Richardson, a journalist and presenter for Channel 4.
“I don’t know if I would have gone on to have children. But as soon as someone says you can’t have something, you want it more than anything,” Perkins said.
The Great British Bake Off host heard the news of her diagnosis before her co-star and long-time professional partner Mel Giedroyc had her two children.
“When she had her first child I thought: this is an experience I won’t have or share," Perkins said.
“You’ve gone somewhere I can’t go. You think it is going to destroy something, but actually it hasn’t destroyed anything – we have very different lives and different experiences now.”
