Lorraine Kelly has returned to her ITV morning show after taking time off to recover from surgery to remove her ovaries and fallopian tubes.
The 66-year-old presenter, who has hosted her eponymous breakfast programme for the past 15 years, had the preventative procedure after she suffered a burst cyst following a holiday to India in January.
Kelly underwent a laparoscopy, a surgery where small cuts are made for operations inside the stomach or pelvis area, to “prevent something awful happening” following a series of tests and scans.
Appearing on Good Morning Britain on Monday (19 May) prior to her own ITV show, Kelly admitted the only “frustrating” impact of her surgery is that she can’t lift up her infant granddaughter, Billie.
Kelly’s surgeon, Ahmed Raafat, told the TV star, who explained she’s feeling “all good” and “totally fine” after the operation, that she’ll be able to hold her grandchild by the end of the month.
She explained of her decision to have the procedure: “I had a burst cyst coming back from India in January. I got a scan and found out that on the other cyst, there was something suspicious. To be safe, and to prevent anything awful happening, [surgeons] whipped it out.”
“I had keyhole surgery; I’ve got three new holes to whip out the ovaries and the fallopian tubes. Nothing sinister, it’s all good!” she said.
The procedure, which is known as salpingo-oophorectomy, takes one to two hours and requires several more hours of recovery in hospital.
Joined by GP Dr Hilary Jones on her own programme, Kelly revealed she only stayed in hospital one night after the operation before she returned home to her husband Steve Smith, who cared for her.
Kelly said she didn’t feel sad to lose her ovaries of fallopian tubes because the procedure had given her “peace of mind” and “relief” that “everything is fine” with her health.
She explained: “It means it’s one less worry, and for me, it was actually an amazing thing to do and the right thing to do, and I would just say to anyone, if you’re worried, make sure you go and get yourself checked out.”
Ovarian cysts are common and often symptomless fluid-filled sacs that form on the reproductive organs, but which can spark a referral where they cause pelvic pain or bloating.
Cysts can be cancerous and need immediate removal. Although a specialist ultrasound technician can usually identify when they are benign, many women are still offered precautionary surgery.
A recent study found that around four out of five cases of ovarian cysts need no further intervention.
In 20 per cent of cases, the cyst eventually disappeared naturally, and while 16 per cent of the women eventually had surgery only 12 women were diagnosed with ovarian cancer – a risk of 0.4 per cent.
However, numerous women in the UK have taken to social media in recent years to urge women to advocate for themselves in hospital if they think something is wrong.
One 22-year-old was left on the “brink of death” after a cyst on her right ovary ruptured in 2024. She initially thought the pain was period cramps with doctors left baffled as to why she was in agony.
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