Countryfile presenter Julia Bradbury has overhauled her life after “death looked her in the eyes”.
The 54-year-old TV presenter was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2021 and later underwent a mastectomy. Her breast plus two lymph glands were removed before reconstruction took place. Julia has since decided to stop drinking alcohol and completely change the priorities in her life.
However, she revealed she has received some pushback on social media from sharing her approach. She told The Times Weekend magazine: “I wasn’t close to death, but death looked me in the eyes. So I am more focused on my health than I ever have been. I don’t drink, I eat a healthy diet and exercise every day.
“When I came home from my mastectomy, I promised I would spend time outside every day, and that is my mantra, however poor it might be in this s***ty winter.” Julia, who has since been given the all-clear, said a doctor recently helped her reframe how she utilises her energy.
She admitted she "realised you don’t have to win every race" or "overcome everything". The presenter previously discussed her experience in an ITV documentary, Julia Bradbury: Breast Cancer And Me, which followed her as she came to terms with her diagnosis and prepared to undergo her single mastectomy.
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Adam Gerrard / Daily Mirror)She also regularly shares her wellness and fitness tips with her more than 270,000 Instagram followers. However, she revealed she has had pushback from people saying: “I was healthy, I go to the gym, I got cancer, and now its metastasised and I’ve got secondary cancer. So are you blaming me for my illness?”.
Responding to the accusations, she added: “No. All I’m saying is, this is what I went through. It was a wake-up call, and it made me look at life differently. It made me prioritise my sleep, emotional health, and give more time to my loved ones. If I drink more than four units of alcohol a week, my risk of reoccurrence goes up by 28%. But people find me giving up drinking infuriating.”
Julia, who has a 13-year-old son Zephyr, and nine-year-old twins Xanthe and Zena, said having children later in life has caused her to not be as “patient” as she feels she should be at times after becoming more set in her own ways. She confessed to feeling like after having her cancer diagnosis she should "become this beautiful angel with a halo" yet still makes the same mistakes.
Julia said she does lose her temper and can't believe some of the things she says. However, she insisted as a parents she is doing her best and her children are told they are loved everyday.
If you have been affected by this story, advice and support can be found at Breast Cancer Support.
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