'Loose Women' panelist Janet Street-Porter to go on a two-week break for her knee surgery
Janet Street-Porter, who's been a panelist on ITV's 'Loose Women' for six years and has appeared in at least 500 episodes of the lunchtime talk show, announced that she's be on a two-week due to knee surgery. The talk show panelist confessed that she has been nervous about the operation.
On Wednesday afternoon's show, she revealed how she's been ignoring the doctor's advice for quite some time, keeping the operation aside for several months. She said that since she liked the show, she wasn't willing to take time off. She said that since she liked the show, she wasn't willing to take time off: "A year ago I was supposed to have this operation, but I like doing this show, and I didn't want to take time off. I've only ever had a serious operation once, which was when I broke my leg climbing in the Highlands. Actually, I drove myself to hospital." However, she now realizes that her left knee is in bad condition. "I’ve got to say these words and I’m not very happy about it - I’ve got to have a knee replacement; my left knee is completely and utterly worn out."
Janet indicated that her knee has been under a lot of stress since she has been an athletic woman all her life. "It’s largely worn out because I’ve spent my entire life walking, playing tennis, keeping fit, doing all those things.” The 71-year-old told her fellow panelists that she has been to operations before, but this time she has been deliberately ignoring all suggestions on getting her knee operated. "Yeah, yeah, yeah, I had those operations where they hoover out all the gravel that’s in your joints, arthroscopy, I had that a couple of times."
She is known to be one of the boldest panelists on the talk show, but she did not hold herself back from giving away the fact that she was scared. "I am nervous actually. When I broke my ankle, I was just carrying on with life as normal. Now I know I’ve got to take two weeks off to rehabilitate my knee. So if anyone watching can reassure me and tell me that I will be playing tennis again, please write and tell me.”
Her fellow panelists, Stacey Solomon and Coleen Nolan gave her a token of love with a bag full of gifts which included a Poldark cushion, a book by Gemma Collins (who has been a cast member of the ITVBe semi-reality show 'The Only Way Is Essex' since 2011), and a Wonder Woman outfit. The panelists didn't stop there. Janet pulled out a sign which read 'Do Not Resuscitate,' which they had put in as a joke probably to make things lighter for Janet in her tense moment.
Janet Street-Porter isn't the first panelist to take a break from the show. Legendary panelist of 'Loose Women', Carol McGiffin, had left the show in 2013 and was working with Channel 5's own daytime show, 'The Wright Stuff'. She was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2015 for which she underwent a mastectomy procedure. DigitalSpy quotes the panelist speaking about her comeback in 2018: "Almost exactly five years ago I did my last show on Loose Women, and I have to admit I've really missed it – in more ways than one – so I'm absolutely delighted to be back on the show next week...I'm a bit nervous, but mostly I'm excited to be sitting behind that desk again with the girls, doing what I do best – talking rubbish!"