Broadcaster Lauren Laverne has been diagnosed with a chronic blood and bone marrow condition, for which she said there is currently no cure.
The BBC 6 Music star and Desert Island Discs host, 48, told her Instagram followers on Friday (17 July) that she has smouldering myeloma, which is an asymptomatic disorder that can develop into blood cancer.
Laverne assured her fans that the risk of this happening in her case is “pretty low”, adding: “At the moment, I feel OK and don’t need treatment.”
“Most people my age who have it have no idea – it tends to be cancer survivors like me who are diagnosed early as we’re so carefully monitored,” she said. However, she added that “it has nothing to do with my previous illness or my recent surgery”.
The occasional One Show host was diagnosed with cancer in August 2024, and in November of that year, she announced she had received the all-clear.
“I’m quite a private person by nature, but am sharing this as one of the many things I’ve learned after going through health challenges in recent years is that talking about this stuff helps people,” she wrote of her new diagnosis.
Laverne was diagnosed with the condition, of which she said there is currently no cure, after her GP noticed she had “persistently low iron levels”.
“This is the second big problem my GP has caught early and it is frankly impossible to adequately express my gratitude,” she wrote.
Now, Laverne “will need to take good care” of herself as her immune system “is a bit compromised”, and “will be carefully monitored with blood tests, MRIs and bone marrow biopsies”.
She went on: “It’s been a lot, especially coming less than two years after my last diagnosis, but I know that seeing others in the public eye with comparable situations has helped me, so I thought I’d be upfront about it.
“I’ve had some difficult experiences in the last eight years, but I have learned more from them than some people do in a lifetime and that is helping me right now. I am so grateful for that.
Laverne thanked her family, friends, doctors, consultants and nurses, as well as her team at 6 Music. Many of her fellow TV and radio stars sent her support in the wake of the news.
Ex-Loose Women star Andrea Mclean wrote: “I’m so sorry to hear this. Thank you for sharing, you will have helped so many.” TV doctor Amir Khan added: “Oh Lauren sending you all the love. You are such a wonderful beautiful person. Please call me if you need.”
Born Lauren Gofton, the Sunderland-born DJ moved into presenting following a career in music with her pop-rock band Kenickie. After guest slots hosting Never Mind the Buzzcocks and Have I Got News for You in the early 2000s, she became the first woman to host XFM’s flagship breakfast show in 2005 and has hosted the morning show on BBC Radio 6 Music since 2019.
Laverne took over the job of presenting Desert Island Discs, Radio 4’s flagship interview show, from Kirsty Young in 2018. Over the past six years, despite an onslaught of initial criticism, she has moved and entertained many listeners with her interviews with Ian Wright, Jamie Dornan, Esther Rantzen, Rob Delaney, Adrian Edmondson and Ruth Jones, to name a few.
She has been married to DJ Graeme Fisher since 2005 after the pair met and started dating in the early 2000s while working on the same TV show.
