Trisha Goddard 'burnt out' by other people's tales of grief
Trisha Goddard - who has stage 4 cancer - got "burnt out" by her 'Celebrity Big Brother' housemates' stories of grief.
Trisha Goddard got "burnt out" by her 'Celebrity Big Brother' housemates' stories of grief.
The 67-year-old presenter has stage 4 breast cancer and her openness about her diagnosis and treatment led to her fellow contestants being keen to confide in her about their own experiences, which tool a toll.
She told MailOnline: "It’s life. It touches everyone and there were some very moving moments, but I genuinely didn’t realise the impact it would have on me. I got to the point when I had to cut a few people short because part of me was screaming in the dark.
"I rang my daughter Billie and said, 'I’m burnt out with other people’s grief. It’s just too close to home.' "
But Trisha enjoyed her experience on the show and admitted it felt like a "holiday".
She said: "Oh, it was like being paid to go on a holiday: it was captivity that offered a level of freedom from everyday life. I was a child again absolved of all grown-up duties, and who gets that in life? You have food, play time, a wide cross-section of people to talk to."
The former talk show host lives in Connecticut, US, with her fourth husband Allen and he was reluctant for her to make the trip to take part in the show.
She admitted: "He needed convincing. He was worried; scared for me. But he knew better than to say, 'Don’t think of it'. Actually he was more concerned when I said I was going back to ice skating – although I do wear a padded suit."
Trisha is determined to live life to the full and insisted she isn't ready for her "dying days" just yet.
She said: "I have had messages like, 'You should be spending your dying days with your family, not in the Big Brother House', and the assumption is that the cancer has spread all over your body: liver, kidney; everywhere.
"But for a hell of a lot of people with metastatic cancer – me included – it’s not the case.
"It’s in my bone; specifically my right hip bone. And people have lived with cancer like this for five, ten even 20 years. By the end of this year there will be 3.4 million Brits living with cancer, a lot of them almost hiding away – and I wanted to show that you can still live a full and vigorous life. You can’t be so scared of dying you become afraid of living."
