23 March 2024 , 22:52
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Louis Walsh vowed to be a 'better person' after being diagnosed and recovering from a rare form of blood cancer called Waldenstrom macroglobulinaemia.
While on Celebrity Big Brother, the 71-year-old music manager said he was recovering from a rare cancer, adding that it had been a “reality check”. Louis made the admission during a chat with housemates Levi Roots and Ekin-Su Cülcüloğlu. Asked about his experiences in lockdown, he replied: “I was sick, and I think nobody knew I was sick. I had cancer – a mild version, a rare one, in my blood.
“I didn’t even know I had it until I went to the hospital. They checked me and then they found it.” The star was a divisive character on the programme due to his brutally honest opinions about his fellow housemates and the stars he has worked with in the past - including Jedward and Ronan Keating.
The three-week stint saw many people beg producers to kick him out of the show but many wanted him to stay as he brought the drama and provided everyone with showbiz gossip. After leaving the Big Brother house, the former X Factor judge revealed he's been reevaluating his 'catty' behaviour.
He was diagnosed with a rare form of blood cancer (James Veysey/REX/Shutterstock)"Cancer is a great reality check. This whole experience is going to change me. I’m going to try and be a better person," he explained to The Sun. "I am going to try and be nicer. I am a bit catty. I always let people know what I think of them, that’s just me."
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Last week on the ITV programme, Louis said the diagnosis affected him mentally. Pointing to his head, he admitted: “It’s just up here, even when I go past a hospital I almost get sick. It’s all gone, I’m fine. It was just the shock of being sick and that word – nobody wants that word.
“I have it blocked out, a reality check. You see so many people sick and it’s terrible. In my world it was all about pop music and all that. I didn’t think of anybody getting sick or anything like that. And that was like, wow, reality check – you’re in the real world.” It is not known what treatment Louis received, but those diagnosed with the rare cancer often have chemotherapy and immunotherapy. Around 350 people in the UK are diagnosed with Waldenstrom macroglobulinaemia each year.
It occurs when certain blood cells called plasma cells develop in an unusual way in the bone marrow. A close friend of Louis said the condition was the reason the star spent a lot of time sleeping in the house.