ITV Loose Women star issues health update as she admits 'I can't handle it'

Janet Street-Porter has confessed that she struggles to deal with health issues, admitting that she tends to "catastrophise" when something goes wrong.

The 78-year-old broadcasting icon, who has faced numerous health challenges, including a hip replacement operation, revealed on Loose Women that she has another procedure scheduled in just a few days.

The TV star was back on the panel of the ITV show when she shared: "I've got quite bad arthritis and I've got another knee replacement coming up at the end of this month, not many days to go now but if anything goes wrong with my body, I absolutely catastrophise."

She continued: "A week ago, I was doing my show in the theatre and I looked down and my neck jammed. Ever since then, I haven't been able to get rid of it. I've had physiotherapy and I've slung everything at it."

Despite these setbacks, Janet is determined to live to 100 and panics whenever something might jeopardise that, reports the Mirror.

She added: "I want my body to be operating at peak capacity, peak efficiency and if anything goes wrong I can't handle it. I've got all painkillers going.

"My full intention is to live to be 100 and to live a very full life so anything that comes along that might impede that, I go absolutely crazy and I can't cope with it."

In 2020, Janet was diagnosed with cancer after self-referring when she noticed what she initially thought was a mosquito bite on her nose upon returning from an Australian holiday. The journalist confessed: "I was glad that I had done it because I could not put up with the waiting list, and the idea that I might have to wait months."

She further added: "At the moment, everybody wants results, and you can't really blame them. They've been through Covid. And when I was diagnosed, oh, this thing on my face isn't just any old spot. It's a basal cell carcinoma. I mean, I wanted it got rid of."

After overcoming cancer, Janet revealed another health scare in October 2023, urging Loose Women viewers to check their eligibility for the shingles vaccine after suffering from the debilitating illness.

Janet first experienced the illness in her 40s and admitted she didn't recognise she had it initially.

The journalist remembered noticing a rash on her body, which she mistook for an eczema flare-up.

Loose Women airs at 12.30pm on ITV on weekdays