I have to respect what my body needs rather than overriding it

Being diagnosed with an autoimmune disease changed Loose Women's Kéllé Bryan's whole perspective on life, she tells CAMILLA FOSTER

- CAMILLA FOSTER

LOOSE Women panellist Kéllé Bryan admits she has struggled setting boundaries in the past - particularly when she was part of Nineties girl group Eternal.

This came to a head when she was diagnosed with lupus in 1998 and was told by doctors that the autoimmune disease could have life-changing implications.

“When I got my diagnosis, a doctor told me that there was no cure and that I would probably never be able to walk again or have children,” recollects Kéllé.

“When he finished I said, ‘if you could sign me off that would be great because I've got to be on a plane to shoot my music video’ and I remember the room going really silent.”

The British R&B girl group rose to fame in the early Nineties - with hits like I Wanna Be The Only One with BeBe Winans, Stay and Just A Step From Heaven - and Kéllé left the band the same year as her diagnosis.

“I think sometimes with the busyness of life we can override our bodies quite a lot and not listen to them because we have a deadline and feel pressured to do things straight away,” says the 51-year-old broadcaster, who is currently in remission from lupus after being given the all-clear earlier this year.

“I haven’t always had boundaries, especially in my Eternal days where I had no control over my time or energy.