Loose Women’s Janet Street-Porter has opened up about losing her sister after finding Will Young’s Channel 4 documentary, Losing My Twin Rupert, "difficult to watch". In the film, which aired on Tuesday, May 11, Will Young talks about how his twin brother tragically took his own life. Read more about it here.
The broadcaster and journalist chatted with the other women about the topic of grief during the show on Wednesday, May 11. Janet’s sister, Patricia Balsom, passed away in 2006 following a battle with lung and brain cancer.
Talking to Christine Lampard, Coleen Nolan and Judi Love, Janet said: “I felt so angry. I felt that not enough was being done to save her and even felt angry that she was smoking.” Patricia, who was 57 when she died, passed away in a hospice. She published a diary which chronicled how desperate lack of resources within the NHS made her last few months difficult. Janet told the other women that she found "solace’" through the diary.
Discussing her own relationship with grief, Janet described how she was "unable to talk" or process what had happened and said that she did a comedy show when her sister died. The "profound and incoherent" grief that Janet suffered was shared by co-host Coleen Nolan when her own sister, Bernie, passed away from cancer.
Coleen said: “My family celebrate every birthday since Bernie passed away. I just can’t.” She added that she still feels like Bernie is living in Surrey, despite her death in 2013.
Concluding, the Loose Women agreed that all of us grieve differently and the experiences of Janet and Coleen are not uncommon to those who have lost someone.
