Judy Finnigan nearly died after vomiting litre of blood

29 May 2019

Richard Madeley says his wife Judy Finnigan nearly died after vomiting a litre of blood.

Richard Madeley and Judy Finnigan

The 63-year-old TV presenter - who has kids Chloe, 31, and Jack, 33, with Judy - has opened up about his spouse's health scare after she was rushed to hospital last autumn for two life-saving blood transfusions, when she took Ibuprofen on an "empty stomach" to aid an injured knee.

He told The Sun: "She'd been taking Ibuprofen for sore knees and she had no clue that taking them on an empty stomach could seriously affect the stomach lining.

"I dialled 999 and the ­ambulance arrived in about four minutes.

"They had her on a drip and got her to the Royal Free in Hampstead and she had two blood transfusions."

Richard - who has been married to Judy for 48 years - claims the painkillers made his wife develop four large stomach ulcers and if was told if he'd have wasted any time in calling the ambulance, the former 'This Morning' presenter could have "bled out and died".

He added: "It was touch and f**king go. While she was coming round from that, the surgeon said, 'She's going to be fine. Did you call the ­ambulance immediately?'

"I said, 'Yes,' and he said, 'Good, because if you'd waited another 20 minutes she ­probably would have bled out.' Half an hour tops and she would have died."

Judy, 70, previously recalled the horrific event earlier this year and blamed her brush with death on "over-the-counter Ibuprofen" she was taking like "sweeties" for four weeks.

She wrote: "Last autumn it happened to me and I nearly died.

"It was nothing to do with aspirin, which I don't take. The culprit was good old over-the-counter Ibuprofen, the seemingly harmless stuff you take for a bad back, or (in my case) a painful knee.

"I gulped the jolly little bright blue capsules, looking like sweeties, daily for a mere four weeks.

"I survived thanks to an exceptionally swift-arriving and skilled ambulance crew, superb emergency treatment at London's Royal Free Hospital, and two major life-saving blood transfusions."