'She's eating pavlova and celebrating her birthday with her family...she's certainly not in a coma'

Dame Esther, who is living with terminal lung cancer, consented to having snaps of the family celebration released after online users spread “repulsive” Al-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.

Appearing on BBC One's Morning Live yesterday, Rebecca contrasted those images with real photos of her mother — beaming in a yellow dress and blazer as she celebrates her 85th birthday last Sunday.

One snap has Rebecca holding a pavlova beside her mum, while another captures the veteran broadcaster wearing a straw hat as she takes a stroll around her garden, in May.