Michelle Heaton reveals how she really feels about stripping off for The Full Monty five years after her double mastectomy
MICHELLE Heaton has revealed what it feels like to be baring all for breast cancer – after her own cancer scares led her to get a double mastectomy and a hysterectomy.
Brave Michelle, who recently partnered with , was diagnosed with the mutated BRCA2 gene in 2012.
The star, who has two kids, Faith, six, and Aaron, four, with husband Hugh Hanley, discovered she had an 80 per cent chance of developing breast cancer and 30 per cent chance of developing ovarian cancer - so opted to have a double mastectomy and breast reconstructive surgery later that year.
She also had a hysterectomy – leading her to go through early menopause at just 37.
Now, Michelle, 38, will bravely bare all on The Full Monty: Ladies' Night, airing next Thursday, alongside Coleen Nolan, Victoria Derbyshire, Sally Dexter, Megan McKenna, Helen Lederer, Ruth Madoc and Sarah-Jane Crawford.
Speaking to Fabulous Online Michelle revealed how she’d been sceptical about taking part at first.
She said: “When I first got asked to do the show, my initial reaction was ‘no’ – because I thought it was a ‘strip’.
“I was really mistaken about the message that they’re trying to get across for breast cancer.
“It’s not a strip, it’s not salacious, it’s for all the women who’ve been touched by breast cancer - strong women – and we’re trying to get the message out.
“It’s taken a lot and, as much as I might be confident for the next person who’s had a double mastectomy, it’s a daunting thought.
“But, that is why we’re doing it – to give people confidence to go and get checked and to show them that they can still be beautiful after they’ve had a single or a double mastectomy.
“It’s very different to the boys show, it has a very different feel and I think that the routine is different.
“When you see it you will realise why. Our costumes and how we undress are different – we’re not allowed to say yet how!”
Michelle went on to reveal that it had been her husband Hugh who had given her the nudge she needed to get involved.
She added: “My husband was the one who initially said that I should just go for it, he told me ‘you’re supposed to be telling women to be confident so if you can’t lead by example that who can – just do it.’”
But, mum-of-two Michelle added that her kids wouldn’t be watching the show just yet – but she will save it for when they’re older.
She said: “Faith is only six, however she kind of knows what mummy’s gone through already – without really drawing attention to it.
“Kids talk, she’s seen things on the internet, we’ve talked and I’ve never hidden it from her.
“I don’t know if I will show her it [the show], but I will record it and save it for the right moment because I do think that this show will potentially explain everything to her.
“I will show it to her; I just don’t think it will be just yet.
“But she knows that I will be doing a show and she knows that ‘mummy’s getting her boobies out’ and she thinks it’s hilarious that people are going to see my boobies – but she doesn’t know why.”
However, while Michelle may not be showing her little ones the show just yet, her kids are familiar with their mum’s scars and Michelle admits she is quite “open” about them.
She added: “Whenever Faith asks me if I’ve got a baby in my belly (if I’ve eaten too much) I say ‘no baby you know mummy can’t have more children.’
“And she’s like ‘oh sorry mummy, I know’.”
“How kids see it and how you explain to children is a very different way than how you explain to adults but I do think that actually children understand things in a more simple way – which is sometimes best.”
These days, Michelle much more conscious about her own health, as well as her kids’ and is now working alongside Soltan, who offer 5 star rated UVA protection, to promote being safe in the sun.
She said: “I am more health conscious since my health scares – but it shouldn’t take something as serious or as poignant as that for me to wake up and to change the way that I live my life.
“People generally choose their sun cream based on SPF rating, not the UVA rating.
"We forget that it’s the UVA rays that damage our skin – our children’s skin.
“So the whole point of this campaign is to get across that sun damage is permanent – it’s as permanent as getting a tattoo.
“I mean, I have quite a few tattoos on my body and some of which I probably wouldn’t have again now if I had the time over, they are permanent and I know that – but I would never give my children a tattoo, so why would I permanently damage their skin with sun damage?”
Michelle will also be releasing a book this summer, all about her battle with an early menopause and all that the process entailed.
She said: “I’m releasing a book, it comes out May 3 and it’s called Hot Flush and it’s all about my operations and everything.
“It’s a very honest, hard-hitting, emotional book and I just did the audio book for it and that was tough.
“The premise of the book is sharing how menopause has shaped and changed my life and also just a real account of all the operations and everything that happened.
“The fallouts, the having kids, their births, just everything that has happened in the last six years.
“It was tough but I needed it.
“As I was writing it and speaking about it the other day, it’s just like my form of therapy and it just makes everything better.
“It’s hard because the chapter [her health scares and early menopause] can’t be closed for numerous reasons and I suppose most hard-hitting reason is because Faith can potentially get the gene – but I haven’t got the answer to that yet.
“But it’s all about the future now.”
Michelle is currently working alongside .
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