Strictly star Alex Kingston reveals womb cancer diagnosis

Strictly Come Dancing star Alex Kingston has revealed she was treated for womb cancer last year.

The Doctor Who actress, 62, told the Independent she haemorrhaged before being diagnosed with the cancer, later undergoing a hysterectomy and radiation therapy.

Kingston was told the cancer was in her fallopian tubes – and her treatment finished toward the end of last year, according to the publication.

She said: “I had a major operation. I had to have a hysterectomy, I had to go into radiation therapy, and that took up a huge part of my life.”

She continued: “I had assumed that the way I was feeling was old age, and I just sort of accepted it… I thought, ‘OK, this is what it’s like to be in my sixties.’ But a lot of how I was feeling was to do with my illness.”

“I never went down the cancer road in my head. It was a shock, because I have a very positive outlook on life in general”, she added.

“Even though my body was telling me there was something very seriously wrong, I kept thinking, ‘Oh, I’ve got a bad UTI or fibroids.’”

It was while she was doing a play at Chichester Festival last summer, wearing a Tudor dress and knee pads, that she haemorrhaged, the Independent reported.

Kingston said: “That night on stage, I haemorrhaged. That was really shocking. I just knocked my knees together and prayed that it would soak everything up.”

She added: “The wardrobe women were incredible. I ran off stage and said, ‘Grab me some pads!’ We shoved some pads in my pants and I went back on stage and carried on. That was how we finished the show.”

Womb cancer affects the uterus and symptoms include vaginal bleeding, heavy periods, pelvic pain and swelling in your stomach, according to the NHS website.

“Despite having gone through all of that – and any cancer is really tough to accept, to steel yourself to go through all of the necessary procedures to get back into health – the minute I had the operation, I suddenly felt like myself again,” she said.

She continued: “Womb cancer is really tricky because it is so sneaky. What I would say is, the body does know – and that was the body saying to me, ‘Help! There’s something really wrong.’ It’s so important to seek advice and have a check-up.”

Surgery is often the main treatment for womb cancer, with treatment also tending to include chemotherapy or radiotherapy, as well as targeted medicines, according to the NHS.

Speaking about her decision to go on Strictly, Kingston said: “When they approached me, I thought of that cliche: life is too short.

“Go for whatever it is you secretly long to do, because if you’re not brave and you don’t do it, it won’t happen.”

Another Strictly star who has recently undergone cancer treatment is Welsh professional dancer Amy Dowden, who returned as a competitor last year, following chemotherapy and a mastectomy for breast cancer.

Kingston said: “The very first time I met her, it was the day that all of the contestants met the dancers.

“They walked into the room and looked like gods and goddesses. But I went and found Amy and gave her a hug and said, ‘I’ve been through it.’

“I told her how incredible she is, how strong and brave she’s been.”

Kingston, who has starred in medical drama series ER and ITV’s Douglas Is Cancelled, is partnered with dancer Johannes Radebe on this year’s series of the BBC One dancing show.