BBC Breakfast legend Diana Moran has revealed that she’s been living with a brain tumour for 16 years, after beating skin and breast cancer.
The fitness expert, 86, who is best known for being the Green Goddess, opened up about her health during a recent podcast.
Diana shot to fame in the 80s when she presented a fitness segment on BBC’s Breakfast Time, and then went on to appear on other shows such as BBC Breakfast and The Wright Stuff.
The star was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1988 and went on to undergo a double mastectomy, as well as reconstruction, before later being diagnosed with skin cancer in 1999.
The past year has been a tough one for Diana, after losing her partner of 10 years Robin, her 17-year-old cat Maisie, downsizing to a smaller home, and suffering some health scares.
Speaking to Best magazine on the publication’s Suddenly Single podcast, Diana said: ‘I have to say, I have been very unwell for the past six months, on and off, I’ve been very unwell.’
BBC Breakfast legend Diana Moran has revealed that she’s been living with a brain tumour for 16 years after beating skin and breast cancer
Diana shot to fame in the 80s when she presented a fitness segment on BBC’s Breakfast Time, and then went on to appear on other shows such as BBC Breakfast and The Wright Stuff
She continued: ‘I’ve got a brain tumour. It kicked off through another operation that I was having.
‘Possibly the antibiotics that I was given, and everything kicked off, and I thought that my life had come to the end.
‘Three times, we called ambulances, 999. It was when I was sent home again eventually, from hospital, I had to rest.
‘There was no way I could do anything else, I had to have help with stairs, toilet seats, walkers, all sorts of things. I couldn’t stand by myself at all. It was very, very frightening.’
After being asked if she minded talking about the brain tumour, Diana explained: ‘I’ve had the brain tumour for 16 years.
‘It was found when I was doing a run in Hyde Park. All those years ago, a charity run, and something went wrong.
‘They took me to hospital and then they found I’d got a brain tumour.
‘Okay, I’ve lived with it perfectly happily, but with this, the death of Robin, the other operation that I had to have, which was for cancers, I had some cancers on my leg and it was a bit dramatic, because I think I had a reaction to the antibiotics, that’s what we think.
The fitness expert, 86, who is best known for being the Green Goddess, opened up about her health during a recent podcast
‘Then it seemed to have kicked off the brain as well.
‘Since then, I’ve been backwards and forwards to specialists, it’s been decided that at age 87, coming up to, it’s too old for a big operation.
‘So I’m a bit of an experiment on some drugs at the minute.
‘Let’s leave it as that.’
Diana appeared on This Morning back in 2024 to chat to Alison Hammond and Joel Dommett.
The pair were keen to find out how she got into fitness.
Diana said: ‘Totally by mistake, wasn’t planned at all.
‘I was a welfare officer in the west country, because I am so tall, they asked me to be a model in one of their fashion shows, I was seen by H TV, my station back home and before I knew it, I was doing afternoon programmes with them.
Diana appeared on This Morning back in 2024 to chat to Alison and Joel – and got Joel moving
‘But they knew that I always went off every Thursday bright red to Butlins to tape Keep Fit. I did it for fun with holiday makers.
‘The whole thing bubbled on.’
Alison asked: ‘Why were you not the Red Goddess?’
Diana replied: ‘I could have been the Red Devil!’
She continued: ‘Then the BBC saw me and it was a starting brick this time, I got this phone call to say would you like to come, probably to just be with us for the first week, I was there for four and a half years!’
