Countryfile presenter Julia Bradbury has overhauled her life after “death looked her in the eyes”. The 54-year-old TV presenter was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2021 and later underwent a mastectomy. Her breast plus two lymph glands were removed before reconstruction took place. Julia has since decided to stop drinking alcohol and completely change the priorities in her life.
However, she revealed she has received some pushback on social media from sharing her approach. She told The Times Weekend magazine: “I wasn’t close to death, but death looked me in the eyes. So I am more focused on my health than I ever have been. I don’t drink, I eat a healthy diet and exercise every day.
“When I came home from my mastectomy, I promised I would spend time outside every day, and that is my mantra, however poor it might be in this s***ty winter.” Julia, who has since been given the all-clear, said a doctor recently helped her reframe how she utilises her energy.
She admitted she "realised you don’t have to win every race" or "overcome everything". The presenter previously discussed her experience in an ITV documentary, Julia Bradbury: Breast Cancer And Me, which followed her as she came to terms with her diagnosis and prepared to undergo her single mastectomy.
She also regularly shares her wellness and fitness tips with her more than 270,000 Instagram followers. However, she revealed she has had pushback from people saying: “I was healthy, I go to the gym, I got cancer, and now its metastasised and I’ve got secondary cancer. So are you blaming me for my illness?”.
