2020-04-06_Daily_Express

Daily Express Monday, April 6, 2020 25

By News Reporter

Picture: JEFF SPICER / GETTY

Why I couldn’t tell

the family about

my ‘gift’ of cancer

live my life. I’m the same but

different. I’m not rushing

about all the time, getting up at

5am and coming home at mid-

night. I’ve let a lot of noise go.

“I’ve gone from thinking of

my cancer as a shock and

something terrible that

happened to me, to thinking in

a way it was a gift.”

Dame Julie and Grant, who

was an AA patrolman when

they met in 1986, live on an

organic farm in West Sussex.

Julie, whose screen hits include

Educating Rita, Calendar Girls,

Billy Elliot, and Mamma Mia!,

says her diet has changed as a

result of being ill.

She told the Telegraph: “I

saw a doctor about what food I

should and shouldn’t eat. I was

told not to go vegetarian

[because of missing out on cer-

tain types of omegas that she

needs], but I avoid red meat

and I have lots of greens.

“I try not to eat sugar

because it’s cancer’s best

friend, but that’s hard. Apart

from that I just think I was

lucky that I had bowel cancer

because it is one there can be

very good results with.

“I was told I’d had it for four

years before I was diagnosed.

Four years.”

Being ill also meant she

couldn’t finish her scenes for

The Secret Garden, a movie

based on Frances Hodgson

Burnett’s classic novel.

It is due in cinemas in August

and also stars Colin Firth.

Dame Julie said: “I did

return to the set a month after

my operation. I stood in this

tight, woollen full-length

Victorian-style costume in

90-degree heat, looking terri-

ble and feeling even worse

because I just wasn’t up to it.

“I had no idea why I had

said I could carry on. Then I

went home and told my agent I

didn’t think I could do any-

thing any more. And I’ve been

at home ever since.”

She is currently enjoying

“pottering, putting my feet up

and watching telly”.

DAME Julie Walters has told

how she kept her cancer secret

from her family because she

didn’t want to worry them –

but sees her illness as a “gift”.

The actress, 70, decided not

to tell her daughter or two

brothers that she had stage

three bowel cancer after being

diagnosed in 2018.

The only person she shared

the news with was her

husband, Grant Roffey.

Dame Julie said: “People

deal with it in different ways. I

couldn’t bear the thought of

everyone worrying – particu-

larly my daughter.

“I told her I needed to have

my appendix removed because

there was a problem.

“I couldn’t say the word

‘cancer’ to her. She said, ‘OK,

Mum.’ I knew she knew it

probably didn’t sound right,

but she also knew I wasn’t

going to talk about it and she

didn’t push me.”

Dame Julie’s daughter

Maisie Roffey, 31, is her only

child with Grant, 63.

Dame Julie recalled telling

him about her diagnosis. “I

walked into the car park where

Grant was waiting, and when I

said the word ‘cancer’ I saw his

eyes fill with tears.

“We just sat there numb. But

what we knew was that we

would go through it. I think we

both knew not to be emo-

tional, just be practical, deal

with it, keep going. Get it out.”

After surgery and chemo-

therapy, Dame Julie has been

given the all-clear. She said of

her ordeal: “It’s changed me

because it’s changed the way I

Fighting

back...

Dame

Julie, 70,

earlier

this year,

left, and

at the

Baftas in

February

2018,

shortly

before

she was

diagnosed

with stage

three

bowel

cancer

By Tom Bryant

Te a r s

Operation

Guilty

pleasures

...the chef

says he

will have a

Twix with

Red Bull

-DPHV,PFKRFIXOORIJXLOW\WUHDWV

Foodie...James has a new TV show

CELEBRITY chef James Martin has

admitted his guilty pleasures are Twix

bars, Red Bull and Domino’s pizza.

James, 47, whose new TV show

starts today, loves to wash down the

chocolate with the energy drink.

He said: “My vice of choice is a Twix

and a Red Bull and I ordered a

Domino’s pizza the other day.

“Why not? Everything is about

moderation.

“All chefs eat burgers – and don’t

believe any chef that tells you they

don’t.” The one food James is not keen

on is eggs – and he says his time

on the BBC morning show

Saturday Kitchen is

to blame.

He told My Weekly

magazine. “I don’t eat

eggs all that often. I’m

afraid that ten years of

eating rubbish omelettes

on a Saturday morning

has put me off them for the rest of my

life.” James’s Islands to Highlands

series, in which he takes a culinary

journey around the UK, starts on ITV at

2pm today.