Julia Bradbury says telling her kids she had cancer was the "hardest thing" she will ever do in her life.
Julia Bradbury says telling her kids she had cancer was the 'hardest thing' she will ever do in her life
The 51-year-old TV presenter underwent a mastectomy and had two lymph glands removed in October after being diagnosed with breast cancer last July, and but she admits explaining her diagnosis to her children, Zephyr, 10, and twins Xanthe and Zena, seven, was her toughest moment.
She said: "Telling your children you have cancer is the hardest thing you'll ever have to do in your life. You also don't know how much you tell them to be realistic, and how much do you need to protect them. It's a very tricky balance. I don't think any parent really knows what to do.
"One of my children said, 'Can I still hug you' and the other said, 'Is it contagious?' I never thought about either of those two things.
"You just don't know what's going through their mind. You do your best, but it's a very difficult thing to navigate."
Julia has filmed a new ITV documentary, 'Julia Bradbury: Breast Cancer and Me' - which is airing tonight at 9pm - and she admitted sharing her experience "seemed like the right thing to do".
Explaining her reasons behind making the film, she said on 'This Morning': "I've been honest about the discovery of my lump from the very beginning because I've always been a campaigner for cancer.
"My mother had cancer, my father had cancer, so I've been an ambassador for several cancer charities throughout my career and ironically I am an ambassador for ovarian cancer in the UK.
"But when I did discover the lump, I was very open about having mammograms and encouraging women to go to the doctor if you find something - trust your instincts and I even posted a picture on my social media accounts of me having a mammogram. It was just a natural progression from that.
"I didn't suddenly want to drop off the face of the earth and not talk about what happened to the lump and mammograms.
"I know that by being open about this, people feel I'm there with them through some of their journeys and it has broken some of the stigmas about breast cancer and talking about it and the impact it has on everybody in your life."
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