Coronation Street icon Beverley Callard broke down in tears after post-op body reveal
Beverley Callard admitted she “cried her heart out” after feeling overwhelmed seeing her body for the first time following her operation to have two lymph nodes removed on February 20.
Beverley Callard "cried [her] heart out" as she felt overwhelmed and vulnerable after seeing herself post-operation for the first time amid her early-stage breast cancer battle.
The star - who got her heartbreaking diagnosis 20 minutes before filming her first scenes in Dublin-based soap Fair City - stayed strong ahead of having two lymph nodes removed, but Beverley's strength shattered when her health ordeal got too much for her at a hospital appointment on Wednesday (25.02.26).
Beverley, 68, returned to the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital to have dressings on her body changed, five days after the operation, which was needed as a precaution to ensure the cancer does not spread, as well as to find out if she needs a second operation.
The Coronation Street icon - who felt brave after chatting to other women battling cancer in the waiting room - said in her latest health update video shared to Instagram on Wednesday: [The consultant] came to change the dressing, and I was feeling really strong and all ready for it.
"Thinking about these incredible women. She took the dressing off, and I looked down and saw myself for the first time, and I just thought, ‘I can't do this. I can't do it.’
"And she said - there was a nurse there as well who’s amazing, she’s called Jo - and they said, ‘Are you OK?' I said, 'Yeah, yeah, I'm fine.' Lied, as we all do.
"And she said, ‘Do you want to have a look at yourself in the mirror?’ And I said, ‘No, I can’t. I can't do that right now, if you don't mind.’
"So, we talked about other things and the procedure. I've got to go again next week."
Beverley - who has been married to Jon McEwan since 2010 - continued: "And then I went downstairs and out of the hospital, Jon was there waiting for me, and I got in the car and cried my heart out like a baby.
"I wasn't strong at all then. I’d lost the whole lot, but I'm sure we all go through that."
Beverley - who recently admitted to thinking Jon would not find her attractive anymore following the operation - eventually mustered up the strength to look at her body in the mirror and show her spouse.
The I'm A Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here! 2020 campmate - said: "And then I did come home, and I did look at myself, and I did show Jon.
"So I did get through it in the end. And if anybody else is going through that part of it right now, God love you, we can do this."
Beverley - who has "quite a big haematoma" under her arm, which the consultant thinks "she might have to operate on" - insisted on Jon not attending the appointment with her, which left him fearing that the actress was "shutting me out".
The Fair City cast member - who has "decided to delay" the haematoma examination "until next week" - is not shutting Jon out, but Beverley felt she needed to see and process her body on her own first.
The soap legend - best known for playing Liz McDonald on Coronation Street from 1989 until 2020 - explained at the start of her Wednesday health update video: "Today, I had the hospital at 11am. And I had all sorts of thoughts going through my head. And the biggest one was, I knew they were going to tell me today if I had to have another operation.
"And also, they were going to change the dressings. So I thought, OK, I don't want Jon to come in with me this morning.
"And I told him why. I just said, 'Jon, I'd really rather go in on my own today because they’re changing the dressings, and I'm going to see myself properly for the first time, and I'd rather you not be there.'
"Jon said, ‘Please don't shut me out.’ And I'm not doing that, but I just had to do that by myself."
Beverley got her lymph nodes and lymph glands tested for cancer on February 11.
And in her February 18 health update video, she said doctors are "pretty sure that [the cancer] is not in the lymph nodes", but were removing two "to make sure".
On February 6, Beverley announced her breast cancer diagnosis during an appearance on The Late Late Show.
The star - who hopes to still play Lily, the long-lost mum of Carrigstown resident Gwen, played by co-star Emily Lamey, in Fair City - added she needed "an operation and some radiotherapy".
