As a result of her “terrible” experience with chronic pain, broadcaster Kirsty Young took a four-year hiatus from hosting. Due to fibromyalgia and rheumatoid arthritis, Young resigned from her role as host of Desert Island Discs in 2018.
She returned to the airways earlier this year, and for the Christmas Day episode of the BBC Radio 4 program, she served as the interviewee.
She remarked to Lauren Laverne, her successor, that persistent discomfort “grinds you away.”
“There are a lot of things that come along with losing your personality, sense of humor, and sense of self. It’s terrible.”
While rheumatoid arthritis produces pain, swelling, and stiffness in the joints, fibromyalgia causes widespread pain and can result in extreme exhaustion. The two chronic illnesses are frequently connected.
Young, 54, claimed that it took her approximately a year to figure out what was wrong with her health and that by that point, she was “feeling really, really ropey.”
After some searching, the journalist and former Crimewatch host discovered a “great professor of rheumatology,” who advised her to cut back on her job.
When he first suggested it, she objected, saying, “That’s the kind of job I’ve got; I can’t do it part-time.”
“And he responded, “Well, we can introduce all kinds of drugs, we can monitor you, but you have to lessen the stress in your life and you have to take this seriously. You can’t just keep downing painkillers down your throat, which are shocking and ineffective.
“It felt extremely genuine. Although it was spoken with the utmost love, it was simply a split second of crystal-clear reality. To borrow an old Scottish expression, I recall stopping my car and having a good old greet (tear) about it.”
Added her: “When I discuss this, I’m quite conscious of the fact that patients sitting across from me often receive diagnoses that are considerably more serious than mine.
“But because I was experiencing pain and because dealing with a chronic long-term pain condition is extremely difficult, both literally and figuratively, I had to take it seriously if I wanted to recover. Then I did.”
She declared that she was “so much better” and ready to co-host BBC coverage of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee this summer and the monarch’s burial in September.
Young’s moving final remarks at the conclusion of the funeral coverage received high acclaim from many people. “Today we have come together, many of us with tears in our eyes, but all of us with an everlasting warmth in our hearts for everything that she offered,” she said, encapsulating the feeling.
She recalled that afternoon as follows: “We are all in this moment – I am, you are, and we have all been in it, I thought while I was writing it. What was it about? Why did this situation develop the way it did? That is the gist of what I was saying.”
She also discussed her early life and career with Laverne, describing how she periodically encountered what she called “a nice little splash of snobbery and misogyny.”
But that’s not just me, she said. She recalled a conversation she had with an English woman film producer who asked her if she would deliver the news “in that voice” at the Channel 5 launch party in 1997.
“It’s the only one I have, though! That completely surprised me. She probably meant accent.”
Kristy also remembered running with former cabinet minister Michael Heseltine at the Conservative Party convention when the newly launched Channel 5 was attempting to “schmooze the politicians” into appearing on the station.
She stated that Michael Heseltine turned to face her and declared, “I’m not going to let some little smart alec in a skirt attempt to get the better of me.” I reasoned, “Right, so from now on, it’s going to be pants suits.”
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