Sophie Kinsella, best known for her best-selling “Confessions of a Shopaholic” book series, is opening up about the unnerving warning signs she experienced ahead of her brain cancer diagnosis.
During Tuesday’s episode of “Good Morning America,” the British author – whose real name is Madeleine Wickham – sat down with Robin Roberts to discuss the moments she realized “something really was wrong” with her body before discovering she had a brain tumor.
“The first symptoms that I had was… my legs. I was stumbling, I was tripping,” she said. “I started getting very severe headaches. I got very confused. But it was really when I started tipping over in my chair that we realized something really was wrong.”
‘SHOPAHOLIC’ AUTHOR, WHOSE BOOK INSPIRED ISLA FISHER-LED MOVIE, REVEALS BRAIN CANCER DIAGNOSIS
After undergoing a brain scan at the hospital, Kinsella learned she had a grade 4 glioblastoma brain tumor. She underwent surgery 10 days later.
“It was an eight-hour operation,” she said. “They found the tumor, and they got it all out as much as they could see…. You have to take your triumphs where you can. And the surgery was a triumph.”
While Kinsella has remained positive, her recovery process hasn’t been easy.
“I couldn’t do anything,” she admitted. “And I had to have rehab in all of these areas.”
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Including being able to make a cup of tea by memory.
“This will make you laugh,” she told Roberts. “So, being in Britain, they said you have to be able to make a cup of tea. They won’t let you go home until you can prove you can make a cup of tea…. I could see that this was funny, even though it was actually very daunting.”
Kinsella’s husband, Henry Wickham, told Roberts that he’s had to keep repeating certain things to her due to her memory loss.
“I just have these gaps in my memory, and it’s never really got[ten] back to normal,” she admitted.
Through it all, Kinsella credits her husband’s unwavering support to her uplifting attitude.
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“He has just been such a hero,” she said. “He stayed with me in the hospital the whole time. I once said to him, I got very teary at one stage and I said, ‘Oh my God, but you didn’t sign up for this.’ And do you know what he said? He said, ‘Yes, I did. In sickness and in health.’”
“Every morning, he brings me a cup of tea,” she added. “And he comes to me with a story of hope. I’ve already lasted more than the average. So, you know, that’s how we get through…. We just hope.”
Kinsella first revealed her diagnosis in April with a lengthy Instagram post.
“To my dear readers & followers, I’ve wanted for a long time to share with you a health update and I’ve been waiting for the strength to do so,” she wrote. “At the end of 2022 I was diagnosed with glioblastoma, a form of aggressive brain cancer. I did not share this before because I wanted to make sure that my children were able to hear and process the news in privacy and adapt to our ‘new normal.’”
She continued, “I have been under the care of the excellent team at University College Hospital in London and have had successful surgery and subsequent radiotherapy and chemotherapy, which is still ongoing.”
“At the moment all is stable and I am feeling generally very well, though I get very tired,” she added, joking, “and my memory is even worse than it was before!”
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After thanking her fans, doctors, and closest friends and family for their support, she added a message to others who may be struggling.
“To everyone who is suffering from cancer in any form I send love and best wishes, as well as to those who support them,” she wrote. “It can feel very lonely and scary to have a tough diagnosis, and the support and care of those around you means more than words can say.”
The 54-year-old shares five children, four sons and a daughter, with Wickham.
Fox News Digital’s Elizabeth Stanton contributed to this post.
