The past few years of Louise Thompson’s life have looked dramatically different from her days swanning about glamorous South West London in Made In Chelsea – the show on which she rose to fame in 2011.
She starred on the reality show for almost 10 years, and although during that time she was involved in a few high-profile relationships and break-ups – with Spencer Matthews, 36, Jamie Laing, 36, and Andy Jordan, 35, to name a few – she walked away in 2020 with her fiancé, Ryan Libbey, 34, and never looked back.
However, things became quite complicated for Louise in 2018 when she was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis – a chronic inflammatory bowel disease that affects the colon and rectum.
Sadly, her health went from bad to worse in November 2021 when she gave birth to her son, Leo, which resulted in life-threatening complications for both Louise and her newborn.
Although Leo – now three – thankfully, had a speedy recovery, Louise was in the ICU for over a month. She was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and post-natal anxiety, which led to panic attacks and periods of depression, both of which made her feel as though she was ‘stuck in another realm.’ Shortly after, she was diagnosed with lupus and later that year, she suffered major haemorrhage and underwent emergency surgery. Then last year, she was fitted with a stoma bag – which she affectionately refers to as ‘le bum bag’ – and documents how she lives her life with it on social media in a bid to help quash the taboo around her condition.
But Louise – whose brother is I’m A Celebrity! 2023 winner Sam Thompson – didn’t let her health issues hold her back and has used her experience to amass 1.5m followers and become a best-selling author with her book Lucky: Learning To Live Again. Her podcast, He Said, She Said – which she co-hosts with her fiancé Ryan – has also topped the charts.
Last November, Louise suffered another health setback when she was rushed to hospital once more after experiencing agonising pain in her abdomen. After an emergency surgery, she went into septic shock and was back in the ICU.
Now, Louise is to face yet another daunting surgery, and Closer caught up with her at Cirque du Soleil’s Corteo to see how she’s preparing…
You’ve been so honest about your health battles – are you on the mend now?
I’m good, I’m OK. It’s been a rough old road, but I’m good. I’m taking a new medication, and I’m planning my next surgery, which is probably to have [part of] my bum removed, which is a full-on thing.
That sounds terrifying…
It is, but it sort of becomes a reality quite quickly when you go through a number of health problems, but we’ll see. We’re kind of buying some time at the moment with some medication, and it feels good. I feel well, actually.
When will the surgery take place? Is it within the next few weeks?
No, I’m not well enough to operate on at the moment, because my insides are not in a good spot. They tend not to want to operate within six months of a previous major surgery because everything inside is still very raw. So we will probably have to wait at least four more months.
What does having your ‘bum removed’ entail?
It just removes the option of being able to reserve the stoma bag, so it’s basically removing that end bit, which can be quite intense. However, I think from a physical perspective, on the outside everything actually still sort of looks the same, which is good, so physically there is no harm. It’s a bit of a minefield.
Do you find it upsetting?
I’ve just been through so much that now I’m so desensitised, and life is just living in the moment. I don’t even think about the things that most people worry about, like what their body looks like and that kind of thing.
Your first birth was very traumatic, but would you ever have another child?
I’m on a type of medication that means I wouldn’t be able to have another child now, but longer-term perhaps [we’ll consider] surrogacy.
Have you frozen your eggs?
Not yet, I haven’t been well enough, but there’s hope that it might be an option for me.
Closer spoke to Louise at Cirque du Soleil: Corteo.