A HEARTBREAKING FAREWELL… 💔 Michael Ball’s shock exit has left fans in total tears.

A BBC Radio 2 star has candidly opened up about the health woes, which saw him suffer with pain for three years before things came to a head

BBC Radio 2’s Michael Ball’s horror health battle which forced him to quit career-defining show

A BBC Radio 2 star’s health nightmare saw him suffer with pain before three years before things came to a head.

Hugely popular singer and radio personality Michael Ball, 63, has now opened up about his health battles and how he was forced to take action and sadly quit the show that made his career in showbiz what it is.

Last year, Michael was on tour with Les Misérables in Australia when he was left in agony with his hip. He recalls: “I went for physio and it wasn’t getting any better. I had a cortisone injection, which helped, but after two days I was in agony and really limping.”

Michael Ball rose to fame in the original West End production of Les Misérables(Image: James Hole Photography/PA)

Michael adds: “They took me for an MRI scan and the doctor said the ligament was completely ruptured and severed, and I’d got bone-on-bone on the joint and that my hip had to be replaced. He said, ‘You must be in a really severe amount of pain’. I went, ‘Well, it’s nice to know I’m not just being a drama queen!’.” Michael was then advised by a doctor to fly back to the UK for surgery but he refused.

Sharing his reasons for refusing the surgery at the time, Michael admits: “I didn’t want to let people down.” The singer, who rose to fame after his West End debut in the original Les Misérables production in 1985, added: ” decided I was just going to crack on with painkillers and try to get to the end of the tour. I had to have a crutch to get me to the side of the stage and I used the pain for my character. They cut the bits where I had to go up and down a barricade. I just got my head down and ploughed through it, but it was soul-destroying. I couldn’t enjoy anything really.”

Once the tour ended, Michael jetted back home and had a full hip replacement, which he branded an “utter game-changer”. He added: “You realise that you’ve been in chronic pain, getting worse for three years.”

 

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Michael took over Steve Wright’s BBC Radio 2 Sunday slot(Image: bbcradio2/Instagram)

Michael took over from Steve Wright on BBC Radio 2 last year, following the death of the iconic radio star. Michael hosts the Love Songs slot on the radio channel which airs between 9am and 11am on Sundays.

Upon stepping into Steve’s shoes, Michael said of Steve would be “missed” and his legacy was “immeasurable”. He added: “He created Love Songs, and I am so, so proud to be carrying the baton for him into the future.” Steve died at the age of 69 last year, he was found dead at his home in Marylebone.

A statement was released by his family at the time, which read: “It is with deep sorrow and profound regret that we announce the passing of our beloved Steve Wright. In addition to his son, Tom, and daughter, Lucy, Steve leaves behind his brother, Laurence and his father Richard.

“Also, much-loved close friends and colleagues, and millions of devoted radio listeners who had the good fortune and great pleasure of allowing Steve into their daily lives as one of the UK’s most enduring and popular radio personalities. As we all grieve, the family requests privacy at this immensely difficult time.” Steve’s cause of death was later revealed as a ruptured ulcer in his stomach, as per his death certificate.