Television presenter Brenda Edwards has broken her silence on what she thinks about changes being made to Loose Women, and how she really feels about the recent ITV cuts.
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Brenda, who found fame on The X Factor under the watchful eye of Sharon Osbourne before appearing in a series of hit West End musicals such as Sister Act, has been a regular on Loose Women in recent years.
However, it was recently announced by ITV that the show would see reduced screen time in 2026 due to cuts at the broadcaster.
Speaking to Woman’s Own, Brenda, 56, said that she was accepting of the move, but is struggling with the uncertainty around it, as the star candidly admitted she "doesn't know what's happening".
Brenda said: “You have to move with the times I guess, and I hope this is just an interim thing, and maybe in a few years time [it will go back to how it was], but we can only wait and see.
“I don’t like to make assumptions on anything because I don’t know what’s happening there but I hope I manage to get some shows and am able to use my platform to raise awareness for whatever I can.”
Brenda isn’t the only Loose Women star to comment on the move with fellow panellist Nadia Sawalha saying that the decision came “out of the blue” and would be “absolutely brutal” for the show.
Speaking on her YouTube channel, she said: “What's been brutal, absolutely brutal, over the last week, honestly I feel tearful about it, is that hundreds of people... are going to be made redundant out of the blue, these are all the people behind the scenes that support us in every way.”
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Nadia and Brenda’s comments came after it was announced that ITV Studios, who produce Lorraine, Good Morning Britain, and This Morning, as well as Loose Women, would be cutting their budgets.
The cuts mean that around 220 out of the 440 staff involved in the programmes would lose their jobs following the decision published in May, reports the Guardian.
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Whilst Loose Women will stay at the same running time, the number of times it appears on the air will be cut from 52 to 30 weeks.
In a statement following the announcement, the managing director of ITV’s media and entertainment division Kevin Lygo said that cutting Loose Women and Lorraine’s weeks aligned “with the lead daytime presenters who host their shows around a seasonal pattern”.
He added: “Daytime is a really important part of what we do, and these scheduling and production changes will enable us to continue to deliver a schedule providing viewers with the news, debate and discussion they love from the presenters they know and trust, as well generating savings which will allow us to reinvest across the programme budget in other genres.”
