Sue Perkins has revealed that she has a brain tumour which prevents her from having children.
The Great British Bake Off presenter discovered she had the growth on her pituitary gland eight years ago.
In an interview with Good House Keeping seen by The Mirror, Perkins, 45, said that the tumour affects the secretion of reproductive hormones.
However, she added that she felt “lucky” that the tumour is benign.
Perkins went on to say that the discovery made her realise her life-work balance was wrong, because doctors found it when she was receiving a check-up for the BBC programme Supersizers.
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The show followed Perkins and restaurant critic Giles Coren as they sampled foods from different eras in order to uncover the effects of diets across the ages.
“I didn’t have the time to go to the doctor in real life,” she said.
Around 4,700 people are diagnosed with brain tumours in the UK each year.
The tumours are graded on a one-to-four scale according to severity, according to the NHS.
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Benign tumours, which grow slowly and are unlikely to return after treatment, are classed as grade one or two.
Malignant tumours, however, are considered “high grade”, and either start in the brain or spread into the brain from elsewhere, and are more likely to grow back after treatment.
Symptoms of brain tumours include persistent headaches, seizures, persistent nausea, vomiting and drowsiness, changes in behaviour, and progressive weakness.
