HOW DARE YOU SUGGEST SHE IS ON HER DEATH BED!

Dame Esther's daughter blasts 'repulsive' fake images as she battles cancer

- Hanna Geissler

DAME Esther Rantzen's family shared photos of her 85th birthday party - to refute trolls' deathbed claims.

Daughter Rebecca said: "How dare you suggest that? Think about her grandchildren coming across that and not knowing.”

Dame Esther, who is living with terminal lung cancer, consented to having snaps of the family celebration released after online users spread “repulsive” AI-generated fake images of an emaciated woman resembling the Childline founder in a hospital bed, seemingly close to death.

The longtime That’s Life! host has not been seen in public for two years. But her daughter, broadcaster Rebecca Wilcox, said she wanted to counter the “abhorrent” misinformation after a number of false photographs were posted on social media.

Rebecca, 45, said: “She doesn’t want people to think her cancer is this awful, or to create fear for other people who may be in the same situation.

“She’s eating pavlova and celebrating her birthday with her family.

“She’s not got the energy she used to, but she’s certainly not on her deathbed with a drip or in a coma. How dare you suggest that? Think about her grandchildren coming across that and not knowing.”

One fake snap seems to show an anguished woman in a hospital bed, being given oxygen via a nasal cannula with a drip beside her.

Beaming

Another, which more closely resembles Dame Esther, claims to show the TV legend in a bed with a nurse watching over her.