Jennifer Saunders is set to join the panel of The Masked Singer in the hopes of discovering the identity of a hidden celebrity.
Jennifer, 65, is joining the panel on the ITV show as she fills in for usual panellist Rita Ora. Earlier last year, it was revealed that scheduling conflicts would mean Rita would miss the filming of some of the episodes, freeing a space for the comedy legend to join.
But whilst the Absolutely Fabulous star sets her sights on tracking down who is behind the mask, she has been taking on another fight of her own. Over the last number of years, Jennifer has been battling a number of health conditions that pushed her out of the spotlight for months.
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Saunders revealed in 2010, when she was aged 51, that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer. As a result, she undertook chemotherapy in order to kill the disease and keep Jennifer’s health in top condition.
(Image: ITV)
However, she also added that she had been taking other medications as part of her treatment, which in turn created other problems for her. As part of her treatment cycle, Jennifer was told to take tamoxifen, a hormone therapy drug to treat breast cancer.
But a problem soon arose for Jennifer, when she soon realised that by taking the medication, she plunged herself into an early form of menopause. Speaking to Saga Magazine, she admitted that she had a rough ride whilst taking the drug.
“I did crash into menopause a bit,” she admitted. “It was quite brutal, especially because no one had warned me.”
(Image: Daily Mirror/Ian Vogler)
The main purpose of tamoxifen is to stop the production of oestrogen, but Jennifer admitted that was not something she knew of before being put on the drug. “I don’t think they quite understand how that mentally affects you,” she said.
Continuing on, she quipped: “You don’t quite know what you should feel like, so you think, ‘Is this depression? I don’t know. I just feel angry’.”
The Shrek 2 star only went public with her diagnosis for breast cancer when she received the all-clear from the disease in July of 2010. Until that point, she had been battling breast cancer since she first was diagnosed in October 2009.
Writing in her autobiography Bonkers: My Life in Laughs, Jennifer spoke candidly about how her diagnosis affected her and how she relied on family and friends for support. She added that the treatment made her reach her “lowest point”.
(Image: Dave J Hogan/Getty Images)
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“My lowest point came when I lost all my hair; every eyelash, every follicle – I felt chemical,” she admitted. I felt like a chemical.
“Then I got a terrible rash all over my face,” she recalled. “They think it was a reaction to the Herceptin. It was horrible. I felt like a great big overgrown baby with pimples all over my face: a big, horrible, red-faced baby.”
Thankfully, Jennifer went into remission soon after and was given the all-clear by doctors after catching it early. Since then, Saunders continues to raise awareness of the disease and urges everyone to get checked to be treated earlier.
The Masked Singer airs every Saturday at 7pm on ITV1 and ITVX
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
