Rylan Clark-Neal opened up about his mum's ill health during a candid chat on Loose Women, revealing she has almost died three times. The TV star revealed that his mum, Linda, has been battling with Crohn's disease, a long-term condition that causes inflammation of the lining of the digestive system, for as long as he can remember. "My mum has suffered all my life from severe Crohn’s disease and I don’t think Crohn’s gets spoken about enough. I nearly lost my mum last year, again, for the third time," he told panellists Ruth Langsford, Coleen Nolan, Janet Street-Porter and Gloria Hunniford.
Discussing the effects Linda's condition has had on her health and well-being, Rylan revealed that she contracted sepsis last year – which almost killed her. "She was, with all due respect, the hospital said to her, 'If you didn’t come in [for] one more week, that would be it.' My mum has been ill my entire life. When I was on The X Factor, for argument’s sake, she only managed to get to one live show. That was quite upsetting for her to see that – who wants to see me singing? It’s just moments like that." Rylan also added that Linda is often too ill to appear in the studio for his Radio 2 show, adding: "With the radio, I say to her every week, 'Why don’t you come in?' She won’t because she is not well enough to do that."
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However, the pair have found a way to work together as Linda has signed up to appear alongside Rylan on Celebrity Gogglebox, which kicks off on Channel 4 this Friday. "With Celebrity Gogglebox, she feels so comfortable because she is in my house, she feels safe." But it hasn't stopped him feeling anxious about how his mum will fare on camera. "I was nervous, more so, because I think I am so used to doing the TV stuff now, my mum is not. I was very nervous about my mum. She came round yesterday and obviously the crew, everyone was talking to her and calmed her down."
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Although, after one day of filming already behind them, Rylan found himself issuing an early apology to his This Morning co-star Holly Willoughby. He added: "The first line that came out of her mouth. We can’t have the sound on this because it is daytime… I need to apologise in advance to Holly Willoughby, you will understand when you watch the show. I cannot believe the conversations I had with my mum yesterday…"
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