Real Full Monty star says being 9th in family to get cancer diagnosis hit hard
The Real Full Monty star Victoria Ekanoye has candidly revealed her cancer news hit her "really hard" after she became the ninth person in her family to be diagnosed with the disease.
Former Coronation Street star Victoria, 42, was diagnosed with cancer six months after welcoming her first child in 2021. The former soap star, who played Angie Appleton during her 18-month stint on the ITV show, found a lump in her left breast while feeding son Theo, whom she and partner Jonny Lomas welcomed in January.
Victoria said she was inspired by the late Girls Aloud singer Sarah Harding, who passed away in September, to get a third opinion after she was convinced something wasn’t right. In November of that year, Victoria revealed she underwent a double mastectomy after discovering a lump.
The actress was later given the all-clear by doctors and has continued to campaign and raise awareness of cancer and the importance of checking yourself ever since – as she is a patron of charity Prevent Breast Cancer. X Factor star Victoria's participation in The Real Full Monty: Jingle Balls is just one of many ways she does this.
Victoria's son Theo was just six months old when the mum discovered a lump in her breast (victoriaekanoye/Instagram)
Victoria Ekanoye's beloved mum Candy was also diagnosed with breast cancer in 2003 (Getty Images)Speaking to the Mirror, Victoria has candidly re-lived her cancer journey and revealed how the diagnosis "hit really hard" as she is the ninth member in her family to have been diagnosed with cancer. She revealed: "Theo was six months old when I found a lump and I guess, two things for me: One thing is a lot of women – and I hate that I’m saying this because – a lot of women assume that any changes in your body are down to just having had a baby but it’s really important that you are still very breast and body aware because you just never know.
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"I’m the ninth person in my family now to develop cancer – the fifth to develop breast cancer – I’m a patron of a cancer charity so it would’ve been really silly of me not to take my own advice. I do speeches at universities and conferences and all that kind of stuff and, all of a sudden, it was me."
The star continued: "I was doing this [raising awareness] before I was diagnosed because it’s involved so much of my family. And with my mum being one of those people..." Victoria's mum Candy, who is also a patron of Prevent Breast Cancer, was also diagnosed with breast cancer in 2003 when she was 41.
Candy's sister was also diagnosed with breast cancer and another sister was later diagnosed with cervical cancer – she sadly passed away. And in 2017, Candy’s aunt and mother were both diagnosed with lung cancer. They both sadly died.
Victoria explained how things hit home when she received her news. She told the Mirror: "And then all of a sudden I was a statistic and it hit me really hard that it feels very far away until it’s right on your doorstep. So it’s just, I guess, the Full Monty is a continuation of me wanting to express everything I’ve been feeling inside that I held for myself because whenever I do the talks and whenever I perform and that kind of stuff it’s more for other people whereas this was for me, it was quite cathartic for me."
The TV star added of the show: "And I just loved it, I just absolutely loved it and I got to be on stage again and the Lion King was my first-ever job so it was like going back to that."
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