BBC Breakfast legend Diana Moran has revealed that she’s been living with a brain tumour for 16 years after beating skin and breast cancer
Diana Moran, the much-loved BBC Breakfast legend best known to generations as the Green Goddess, has revealed she has been living with a brain tumour for 16 years, after previously overcoming both breast cancer and skin cancer.
Diana shot to fame in the 80s when she presented a fitness segment on BBC’s Breakfast Time, and then went on to appear on other shows such as BBC Breakfast and The Wright Stuff
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The fitness trailblazer, now 86, opened up about her long and deeply personal health journey during a recent podcast interview, shedding light on a struggle she has largely kept private for more than a decade.
A Life-Changing Diagnosis — Discovered by Chance
The fitness expert, 86, who is best known for being the Green Goddess, opened up about her health during a recent podcast
Diana first shot to fame in the 1980s after presenting a fitness segment on BBC’s Breakfast Time, before becoming a familiar face on shows including BBC Breakfast and The Wright Stuff.
But behind the energetic on-screen persona, her health battles began years earlier. She was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1988, undergoing a double mastectomy and reconstruction, before later facing skin cancer in 1999.
The brain tumour diagnosis came unexpectedly.
Diana appeared on This Morning back in 2024 to chat to Alison and Joel – and got Joel moving
Speaking candidly, Diana revealed the tumour was discovered 16 years ago, after she collapsed while taking part in a charity run in Hyde Park.
“They took me to hospital and then they found I’d got a brain tumour,” she explained.
“I’ve lived with it perfectly happily for all these years.”
‘I Thought My Life Had Come to an End’
The past year, however, has proved especially challenging.
Diana has endured the death of her partner of ten years, Robin, the loss of her beloved 17-year-old cat Maisie, a move to a smaller home, and a series of alarming health scares.
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Speaking on Best magazine’s Suddenly Single podcast, she admitted:
“I have to say, I have been very unwell for the past six months, on and off.”
She described terrifying episodes that led to multiple emergency calls.
“Three times, we called ambulances, 999.
I thought that my life had come to the end.”
Diana believes complications from antibiotics given during another cancer-related operation may have triggered a severe reaction, which in turn aggravated her neurological condition.
“I couldn’t stand by myself at all. It was very, very frightening,” she said, explaining she needed help with stairs, toilet seats and walkers during recovery.
Doctors Decide Surgery Is Too Risky
Despite living with the tumour for years, recent complications prompted specialist consultations. However, doctors ultimately decided that major surgery was too dangerous.
“At age 87, coming up to, it’s too old for a big operation,” Diana explained.
“So I’m a bit of an experiment on some drugs at the minute. Let’s leave it as that.”
A Lifetime on Screen — Almost by Accident
Despite everything, Diana continues to reflect warmly on her career, which she insists happened almost by chance.
She told This Morning hosts Alison Hammond and Joel Dommett in 2024 that she never planned to be a TV star.
“Totally by mistake,” she laughed.
“I was a welfare officer in the West Country… before I knew it, I was doing afternoon programmes.”
Her nickname, the Green Goddess, became iconic — even prompting jokes about what might have been.
“I could have been the Red Devil!” she quipped.
A Story of Resilience and Quiet Strength
Now, decades after becoming a symbol of fitness and vitality on British television, Diana Moran’s story stands as a powerful reminder of resilience — not just in body, but in spirit.
Living with a brain tumour, having survived multiple cancers, and facing profound personal loss, she continues to face each day with honesty and grace — even when the cameras are no longer rolling.
