Lorraine Kelly has opened up about the emotional turmoil she experienced after her father was given a false cancer diagnosis. The 66-year-old ITV presenter admitted she “burst into tears” when doctors revealed that her father, John Kelly, was actually cancer-free.
A Misdiagnosis During the Pandemic
Speaking on Pete Wicks’ Man Made podcast, Lorraine recounted the harrowing experience. Her father was admitted to hospital during the Covid pandemic and initially diagnosed with lung cancer. She described the period as “hellish” and the “worst possible time” to receive such devastating news.
“Bizarrely, it was before Covid and he was diagnosed with cancer, and it was a false diagnosis, they got it wrong,” she said. “It was a massive infection in his lungs that he caught in hospital, sadly, but it was a massive infection and they diagnosed him as having lung cancer, and it was hellish, it was the worst possible time. You can imagine how bad that news was.”
The Moment of Relief
Lorraine vividly recalled the moment doctors informed John that he did not have cancer. “You know you see in the adverts sometimes, you’re sitting there and the doctor is waiting for the news, that’s what we were like. I was holding onto my dad in one hand, my mum in the other, waiting for the guy to tell us just how bad it was. He said, ‘Mr Kelly, there’s no cancer.’ And I immediately burst into tears and gave this guy the biggest hug.”
She noted that the experience profoundly changed her father. “Weirdly, that diagnosis changed him. I don’t know if in his head he had prepared for the worst, but you’d have thought someone being told that news would have gone out and embraced life.”
Struggles with Depression
Lorraine explained that she believes John suffered from depression later in life but never sought treatment because he feared it would be “a sign of weakness” and “a step too far.” She attributed this to his generation’s tendency to tell each other to “pull yourself together.”
“The worst thing you can say to anybody is ‘pull yourself together’ or ‘man up’ and I think that’s why my dad never sought any help for his depression,” she said. “My brother and I, very tentatively, a few years ago tried to bring [it] up a little bit because I thought, ‘He’s just not the same, he’s not got the same zest for life’ you know. He’s not enjoying life the way he should be and it was very difficult. We tried, tried really hard, and there’s only so much you can do. But I really noticed that he went downhill.”
John Kelly's Passing
John died suddenly at the age of 84 in January after reportedly slipping on an icy footpath in East Kilbride, Scotland. Paying tribute, Lorraine said: “Very sad news. My dad has died. I am mourning the man who bought me a telescope when I was five years old, who watched the moon landings with me and taught me to always be curious and interested in everything. He was in poor health but it has still been a shock. We will miss you dad.”
