Richard Madeley fans fear he’s set to leave GMB after unexpected absence and health worries
RICHARD Madeley fans fear he’s set to leave his Good Morning Britain presenting role after a recent illness.
The former This Morning anchor, 68, who is a familiar face on GMB alongside co-star Susanna Reid, 53, was “poorly” and away from screens on August 20.
As Richard made his return last week alongside Kate Garraway, 57, who had let slip his illness, he appeared to suggest he now was taking it easy.
He asked Team GB gymnast Max Whitlock, 31 – who retired at the Paris Olympics after failing to win a medal – about winding things down.
Richard quizzed the three-time Olympic and World Champion star: “So many careers don’t have a hard stop you continue to progress, or you just slowly, quietly as I’m doing filter to a stop.
“But how do you manage the hard stop?”
One fan took to X to muse on his comments and put: “Did Richard say he’s retiring in that #Olympics segment?
“Wonder how long he’ll stay on # GMB for then…”
Recently, he told GMB viewers how he had suffered “two massive nose bleeds” over the weekend – with the cause unexplained.
Previously, also suffered a perforated eardrum, which led to temporary deafness in one ear, following a flight and was forced to “lip-red” GMB guests.
He previously told The Spectator: “Conducting interviews during my stints co-hosting Good Morning Britain became secret exercises in lip-reading.”
CAMP EXIT
It is not the first time Richard’s illness has been documented on TV.
The journalist quit his stint on reality TV series I’m A Celeb back in 2021 after he was rushed to hospital in the early hours of the morning.
It came after The Sun revealed he had been taken ill in-camp and seen to by doctors at 5am.
At the time, Richard took to Instagram to write: “Hello all! Richard here – firstly just to say that I’m absolutely FINE.
“I started to feel briefly unwell in the small hours of the morning and was taken to hospital as a precaution.
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“By leaving the camp, I had consequently broken the Covid ‘bubble’ and as such I’ve had to leave the castle and all the wonderful celebs that remain in the camp.
“Obviously I’m gutted to be leaving so soon but the safety of all the campmates is the number one priority.”
HEALTH CHECKS
Meanwhile, Richard’s wife Judy recently admitted the pair are “constantly” monitoring themselves for signs of dementia.
He also told how the fear of the illness simply won’t go away.
Revealing his worries in The Guardian, he confessed: “Dementia frightens me in ways death doesn’t.
“These days forgetting things comes with a pang of panic.
“So far, I seem to have avoided it, but the worry won’t go away.”
How does smoking increase your risk of lung cancer?
SMOKING cigarettes is the single biggest risk factor for lung cancer.
It’s responsible for more than seven out of 10 cases, according to the NHS.
Tobacco smoke contains more than 60 different toxic substances, which are known to be carcinogenic.
If you smoke more than 25 cigarettes a day, you are 25 times more likely to get lung cancer than someone who does not smoke.
Frequent exposure to other people’s tobacco smoke – known as passive or secondhand smoking – can also increase your risk of developing lung cancer.
Aside from cigarettes, the following products can also put you at risk of the disease:
- Cigars
- Pipe tobacco
- Snuff (a powdered form of tobacco)
- Chewing tobacco
- Cannabis (especially when mixed with tobacco)
Source: NHS
TIPPING POINT
The proud grandfather – who is dad to fitness influencer Chloe – also admitted it was a segment during his presenting stint on This Morning which caused him to quit his “60 a day” smoking habit.
He told how it was a chat with Nigella Lawson’s late husband John Diamond, due to throat and oral cancer, which proved the tipping point.
At the time, he told the publication: “Afterwards, I flushed my BandHs [Benson and Hedges] down the toilet and haven’t touched one since.”
He added: “I remember after that interview, that was the day, I went back to my dressing room on This Morning and I reached up on to the top of the cupboard and brought [down] my 10 pack of Benson and Hedges, there was eight in there, and I screwed them all up and flushed them down the loo.”
The Sun has gone to ITV for comment.