Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Kirsty: I felt a loser when I had to quit
Star soothed pain with gin and chocs
KIRSTY Young says she “felt like a loser” when ill health forced her to quit Desert Island Discs.
The 54-year-old presenter fronted the BBC Radio 4 show for 12 years but her rheumatoid arthritis and fibromyalgia meant she had to step down in 2018.
The chronic pain conditions took their toll on Kirsty’s mental health too and she found herself getting solace from gin and chocolate.
She told the Adam Buxton Podcast: “Your sensitivity to pain becomes extremely heightened.
“It was at its worst for a couple of years.
“You feel like you’re going mental. It starts to corrode your personality. You start to lose your sense of humour, you can’t really cope with things that would normally wash over you.”
Asked how she kept her mood up, Kirsty quipped: “Chocolate’s good, a gin and tonic. I did yoga, which is now one of the greatest joys of my life.
“I’m really sh** at it, but I love it. You get
KIRSTY YOUNG pleasure out of your family. But I felt like a loser because you can’t do things; if there’s a long drive to take your child somewhere, you can’t do that.
“Or if it’s standing out in the cold to watch a hockey match, that makes you feel very bad. That’s part of the grinding down [of] your sense of self.”
The former Crimewatch presenter also opened up on her emotional involvement in the BBC’S coverage of the Queen’s state funeral.
She said: “Oh God, I really did cry then. I definitely didn’t want to cry on screen, but it was such a unique set of circumstances.”
It corrodes your personality and sense of humour