“It’s all good, they’ve got everything out, so it’s all clear.” Lisa Faulkner gave her Instagram followers that news in a video posted on 2 July, two weeks after surgery for breast cancer.
The actress and presenter, 54, said she was diagnosed in “the very early stages”. She described the operation as “quite a big op” and said she still had “quite a bit of healing to do. But I’m good, I’m well. And feeling so much better.” Radiotherapy is next, in a few weeks.
Faulkner credited a routine mammogram. “Don’t put them off, go,” she told viewers, “because they found this – without this mammogram, it wouldn’t have been picked up.”
She also thanked the health service. “I want to say thank you to our wonderful NHS and the fact that we can have these mammograms, and we can get treatment early.”
Faulkner won Celebrity Masterchef and is known for roles in EastEnders, Holby City and Spooks. She is also a food writer. Her husband, chef John Torode, joined her on the ITV cooking show John & Lisa’s Weekend Kitchen. Torode was sacked from the BBC’s Masterchef last year after an allegation that he used “an extremely offensive racist term” was upheld. He said he had “no recollection” of it.
Messages of support came quickly. Her former EastEnders colleague Tamzin Outhwaite wrote: “Love you Lise. You’ve got this my darling.”
