Sue Perkins reveals she has lived with a brain tumour for eight years

Great British Bake Off star Sue Perkins has revealed that living with a brain tumour for eight years has stopped her having children.

The comedian, who presents the Bake Off on BBC One alongside Mel Giedroyc, revealed that she has been living with the benign growth for the past eight years.

She said the growth, on her pituitary gland, was found during tests which she underwent as part of Supersizers, also on the BBC.

Speaking to Good Housekeeping, she said: “I was at a point where I was spending so much of my life doing TV that I only found out about my real life through a television procedure.”

“I’m lucky that it’s benign so it’s not in itself a worrying thing. 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.”

Going on, the 45-year-old revealed that the tumour has  stopped her from having children, because of its impact on her reproductive hormones.

“We live in a time and place where we think everything is possible… 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,” she said.

Tweeting since the interview went live, Perkins 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”

The Bake Off star and fellow presenter Anna Richardson earlier this year revealed that they are in a relaitonship together.

Perkins last week said she “went rogue”, attacking the culture secretary John Whittingdale over possible BBC funding cuts.

Mel and Sue last month revealed how they nearly spent a night in the cells after pulling a prank on Paul Hollywood.

A chat show featuring Mel and Sue was cut by ITV last month after failing to attract high enough viewer numbers – despite the pair’s success on the Great British Bake Off, which has seen viewer numbers as high as 10m.

• Dec 01 2023

16 TV stars you grew up watching who later came out as LGBTQ+