LOOSE Women star Nadia Sawalha revealed she's been dealing with a "horrendous" health anxiety battle.
The TV personality, 60, said she constantly overthinks that she's going to get sick and develop a "dreadful" disease.
Nadia Sawalha opened up about her 'horrendous' health anxiety battle
Nadia shared the health update with fans on her latest YouTube vlog post as she insisted her "awareness" can become "draining".
The ITV panellist star said: "I'm always worrying that I've got some new and dreadful disease.
"Something will pop up on Instagram or my 17 or 21-year-old will share something with me on TikTok or a magazine and I will just obsess.
"It's a bit like a hot and cold running buffet and I go from one dish to another and the dishes I choose to nibble on the most is dementia, petrifying, I probably today questioned, I'm really not exaggerating, probably 20 to 35 times today... been to Loose Women, been on the train, been on the bus, talked to all sorts of different people, popped into a shop, there wasn't anything I did today, any interaction or transaction where I didn't go 'that was a bit weird, is that dementia?'
"It's horrendous.
"That's one of them. Another one breast cancer, another one bowel cancer, if you think about it those are all diseases or illnesses that there's been fantastic work done on awareness.
"Don't get me wrong awareness is good, lives are saved because of awareness.
"But I think I'm too aware because there are so often articles 'don't miss the early bloody signs', everything seems an early sign. "
Nadia revealed she has a fears that she will catch Weil's disease one day - a bacterial infection contracted from the urine of infected rats.
"Sometimes I allow myself to hover over a really rare thing like Weil's disease, is caused by rats in the water, I never swim in fresh water where there's rats, but I can literally convince myself it is something I have," Nadia continued.
"Skin cancer, constantly looking at moles, constantly convincing myself, oh my god, it's so draining."
Nadia admitted it's "exhausting" and "wears her out" on a daily basis.
She said: "It steals the joy of life, I could be having a good time with family and then I'm like 'I'm going to have that illness soon and I won't be here', and I can't discuss it with my kids because they get mad, they're terrified."
Nadia added: "Another thing I get scared of is asbestos, I had a bit of it in the garden, Mark picked it up and put in the bin and I keep thinking he had a bit on him."
ITV CUTS
Nadia's health battle comes after she revealed she’s “devastated” after a friend and co-star was axed from the show amid the brutal ITV budget cuts.
It was recently reported that as of next year Loose Women will drop its live studio audience as part of a series of cost-cutting changes.
Now Nadia has confirmed the huge change and told how it means one of her friends will no longer have a job on the show.
Speaking in a recent YouTune with husband Mark Adderley, she said: “From next year there will be no Loose Women audience.
“I am totally devastated by this fact, I can’t get over it at all. Not only because the audience is so important for the show, but also my dear friend Lee who I work with every day.”
Comedian Lee Peart has been the Loose Women warm-up act since 2017.
An ITV source said: "While there is a proposal to not have a studio audience for Loose Women from 2026, that doesn't necessarily mean that we’ll never have a studio audience again, it just won’t be in the same way as it is now.
"At this stage we are still exploring new ways of working and producing the show when we move to a new studio next year."
Last month it was announced that Loose Women will air for only 30 weeks of the year from January.
The shock move came as part of broader budget reductions across the channel, which also included halving Lorraine’s airtime to 30 minutes and airing it only during school term time.
