When Adele Roberts was diagnosed with bowel cancer aged 42 it was a surprisingly bittersweet moment for the Radio One DJ.
“I woke up from surgery and felt like I had a second chance at life,” the former Big Brother star tells Ateh Jewel on this week’s episode of Best Quality Designer Handbag ’s Second Act podcast.
Having initially ‘freaked out’ at the diagnosis, she and her partner of 22 years, actress Kate Holderness, turned to the internet, finding solace in reading other people’s stories. It encouraged her to share her own, which was why she decided to run the 2026 London Marathon yesterday for Bowel Babe Fund with ‘Audrey’ her stoma bag, which collects her body waste, on show.
“It helped us so much reading those words of other people’s lived experience,” she said of cancer survivor’s stories. “I thought, if I survive this, I want to do that for other people. It's my mission every day.”
Her celebrity cheerleaders include the Prince and Princess of Wales who surprised her at the BBC studio before her first marathon in 2017 for the Heads Together charity.
“I used to be on the early breakfast show on Radio One, and William would often be out on the air ambulances,” the 47-year-old says. “He said he used to text in and get a shout out, but we don't know which person it was. I think it was a guy called Wayne.”
Adele’s big break starring on the iconic series of Big Brother, alongside the late Jade Goody and This Morning host Alison Hammond in 2002, was “a big mistake”, she reflects.
“The overnight notoriety for Big Brother was too much for me. We had no idea how big it was.” At the time Adele had been struggling with coming to terms with her sexuality and grieving her aunt’s sudden death from pneumonia. “I had gone on the show to hide.
“I remember them (producers) saying before you go in that it's a mirror, and you might not like what you see - and I didn't. I was obviously going through grief. I wasn't a very nice person, I wasn't a very happy person. I'm grateful for the journey, but at the time it was hard and painful.”
Ironically it took a shock bowel cancer diagnosis for her to find happiness again.
“In a weird way, what my illness symbolised for me was my body had given up trying to hide the grief and trauma I'd been storing inside myself. Having the tumour removed, it felt like it was removed from my life in a weird way… I felt reborn.”
Listen to the Second Act podcast, now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Podcasts and Youtube.
