The actress, who had to pull out of her upcoming theatre role, said she is convinced she will beat the disease to return to her part in ‘A Passionate Woman’ next Spring.
‘This isn’t how I thought the year would pan out, but I see this as a temporary blip.’
‘I honestly minded more about having to pull out of the play than I did about the cancer itself,’ Lynda said.
I see this as a temporary blip
Speaking about the moment a specialist told her she had cancer after what was supposed to be a regular check-up, Lynda said: ‘I sat down and it was then that he uttered the immortal words: “Lynda Bellingham, you are not going to die.”
‘I could have hugged him. It’s the mantra I’ve since repeated every day to myself.’
Even though she watched her sister Barbara fight the disease before her death in 2008, nothing could have prepared the actress for the news it had happened to her.
‘As soon as I heard the word applied to me, it was hard to take in anything else,’ she said
‘It’s different when it happens to you. You can hear the consultant talking but it’s just white noise. Nothing’s really going in.’
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The actress – who had already started to let her hair go grey for her theatre role – said she didn’t want people to think it was an effect of her cancer treatment.
‘Soon, everyone will see me as a grey-haired woman and assume it’s something to do with the cancer. But it’s got nothing to do with it. I started it for the role and I’m going to continue it for when I play the part next year.’
But Lynda – who has already started chemotherapy – is thankful that she won’t lose her hair during treatment.
‘There are different strengths of chemo and it was explained to me that mine wouldn’t result in my hair falling out, which was very welcome news, as you can imagine.’
All right, there’s currently a little hiccup, but I’m convinced it’s only temporary... I’m going to win an Oscar at 75
Lynda is also thankful that she doesn’t have to fight the illness alone.
Speaking about her husband Michael - who she married on her 60th birthday - she said: ‘He is the wind beneath my wings.’
She can also count on the support of her sons Michael and Robbie – who she had with former husband Nunzio Peluso.‘The boys and I have been dealing with this latest turn of events via a sort of dark humour. For instance, as I pointed out the other day, it’s taken 25 years for either of them to empty the dishwasher.’
The defiant actress vowed to beat the disease and hopes to achieve her life-long dream of winning an Oscar.
‘All right, there’s currently a little hiccup, but I’m convinced it’s only temporary,’ she said.
And the future? ‘I look forward with real hope. In my head — really, truly — I’m going to win an Oscar at 75. I can’t conceive at all of that not happening. That’s what I set out to do. That’s how it’s going to end.’