Lorraine Kelly has revealed the distressing details of her past struggle with shingles, labelling the illness as “horrid”.
The veteran broadcaster, 64, returned to host her namesake ITV show where she touched upon a range of topics, one of them being health issues. In conversation with Tyler West while discussing entertainment updates, Lorraine segued into her own encounter with shingles as they spoke about Bob Mortimers publicised battle.
Mortimer had faced a severe six-month stint with shingles, which left him with diminished muscles and needing a wheelchair for movement during some parts of filming his series. Commenting on the disease, Lorraine empathetically expressed: “Shingles, I know from personal experience, I’ve had it’s awful, Tyler. It’s the worst.”
She further described the pain as itchy pain, implying the agonising difficulty in articulating just how unpleasant it truly is: “It’s like having itchy pain, you know. It’s very difficult to describe but it’s horrid,” reports the Mirror.
Tyler West contributed insights into Bob’s harrowing condition, relaying that Bob had compared the severity of shingles to his previous heart conditions, experienced around six years prior: “I mean he did say that it was probably like worse than his heart conditions that he had like six years ago. So that kind of puts into perspective how much he was in pain.”
Encouraging viewers to take preventative measures, Lorraine highlighted the importance of vaccination against shingles: “So if you can get the jab to stop that please do. If you’re lucky to get that.”
Bob Mortimer, famed for co-hosting Gone Fishing with Paul Whitehouse, recently shared his ordeal with shingles, reflecting how ill-health impacted his work but was grateful for the support he received from Whitehouse: “I wasn’t very well and it made it a bit of a struggle but, as always, Paul looked after me and pulled me through.”
The star revealed: “For half of the season, I couldn’t walk so it was very challenging at times. When we were in Trent, I was being taken from a wheelchair to the top of the bank. You never see that but you never see me on my feet either.”
He updated his fans saying: “I just tried to get some muscle back, or get some to grow a bit stronger. I’m 80% back and, by the end of the series, I was reasonably sprightly.”
He then shared his excitement about the show: “The first two episodes are the greatest of Gone Fishing that have ever been made. I think they’re magnificent,” he gushed.
As per the NHS website, “shingles is an infection that causes a painful rash”.
Lorraine airs weekdays at 9am on ITV1.