Amanda Holden has been left battling a barrage of emotions after hearing of her radio co-host and friend Jamie Theakston’s cancer diagnosis.
Jamie, 53, was urged to have his vocal cords examined by listeners when they noticed that his voice sounded unusual on his daily radio show. The presenter then went on to have surgery to remove a lesion in his vocal chords, which he’s since learned was cancerous.
Taking to his Instagram last week, the former ’90s TV star wrote, ‘Hi, folks, as you know, I recently had an operation to remove a lesion from my vocal cords. The biopsy has identified this as stage 1 laryngeal cancer. So, I have cancer, but cancer doesn't have me!
‘The prognosis is very positive and I’m hoping to be back with you in October. Until then, I’ve been told to give my voice a rest and leave you in the mostly capable hands of JK and Amanda. Huge thanks to them and all the Global family, who have been unbelievably supportive. Be thankful for this day, and when I see you next, I'll have a great story to tell.'
A source tells Closer, ‘Amanda feels like the rug has been pulled from under her feet. She was in tears when Jamie told her about his diagnosis. She’s feeling emotionally raw and vulnerable, and hosting the radio show after he made the official statement made it all the more real. He is going to be fine, but she just can’t face the thought of him not being OK. It’s all so horribly real and way too close to home, but she has promised that she will be a rock for Jamie.’
Amanda, 53, has known Jamie for over 20 years after they met while filming a comedy show together back in 2003, with the pair even rumoured to have snogged in a nightclub at the time. The duo reunited in 2019 when Amanda joined Jamie as co-anchor of their hit radio breakfast show, which has over 3.8 million weekly listeners.
When the news broke of Jamie’s illness, Amanda took to Instagram to share her support for the star, who’s married to wife Sophie and dad to Sidney, 16, and Kit, 14. She wrote, ‘Our wonderful Jamie Theakston has been diagnosed with stage 1 laryngeal cancer. His prognosis is very good and he has an incredible team around him. Jamie, we love and miss you and look forward to seeing you very soon. With Sophie Theakston, your gorgeous boys, us and the entire nation with you… You will get through this.’
However, it’s not just Jamie’s diagnosis that has left Amanda in tears. The Britain’s Got Talent judge has also been struggling since she waved her eldest daughter, Lexi, 18, off on her studies. ‘Amanda’s in a new chapter of her life with her daughter Lexi also leaving home for university. One area is bittersweet and inevitable, and the other is sad and unfair,’ our source adds.
'Amanda needs to be strong for Lexi – although she thinks she’s 18 going on 25, she still has a lot to learn. It’s nerve-wracking and scary, but Amanda knows it’s time to cut the apron strings. She can’t believe she is one of those mums who’s been overcome with empty nest syndrome – she sat in Lexi’s bedroom and welled up.
‘Her husband Chris, as ever, is her rock, but Amanda wishes she had superpowers to make everything perfect – she’s a total jumble of emotions. Amanda uses her sense of humour to pull herself back – she knows she’s got to keep it real, to keep laughing and carry on.’
Amanda, who is also mum to Hollie, 12, with husband Chris Hughes, 52, does, however, have a distraction to everything that’s been going on in the form of a new puppy. The star announced on her radio show that she’s fostered a new dog from Battersea, saying to Jamie’s step-in co-host Jason King – aka JK, ‘Yes, it is a replacement for my eldest daughter, who’s gone to university!’ The new addition joins Amanda’s other pets, Rudi, another rescue dog, and Muffy the cat.
Shortly before Lexi left for university, she also appeared in her very first catwalk show, walking for Vietnamese designer Tran Hung in London Fashion Week. And it sounds like she could be about to take off in the modelling world, after the designer said he wanted to work with her again.
Watching on from the sidelines, Amanda took to Instagram to share some pictures from the show, writing, ‘We couldn’t have been more proud of our daughter this evening in her first LFW show. This has been a significant one for her, she has worked really hard with her A-levels and she got herself into a great university.
‘Chris and I love her to bits and her little sister Hollie looks up to her so much. It’s a wonderful moment for her.'