The Motorbike Show presenter Henry Cole has revealed he’s been diagnosed with cancer in his gut.
The ITV star, 62, shared in a post on Instagram that he’d been forced to postpone his upcoming theatre tour to undergo surgery.
Henry told his followers in a video that he is expected to make a ‘full recovery’, and said the cancer is ‘easy to operate on’.
The star is best known for hosting shows including The Motorbike Show and Shed and Buried, after first launching his career as a news cameraman and director.
Henry had also previously battled a heroin addiction for five years, but has been clean since 1988.
Henry shared a video while filming for the latest series of his ITV4 show, and said: ‘I’ve just got a little announcement OK, and that is, I’m terribly sorry. I’m going to have to move the gigs this side of Christmas, the live shows to after Christmas when we’ll rebook them.
The Motorbike Show presenter Henry Cole, 62, has revealed he’s been diagnosed with cancer in his gut, and would be postponing his upcoming tour to undergo surgery
‘I’ll tell you why that is, it’s because I’ve got a little bit of the cancer, OK? Down in my little gut here. It’s localised, it’s easy to operate on, and thank gosh we found it.
‘So, I am told, God willing, that I will make a full recovery, and I’ll come up smiling around February, but please folks, please understand I’m so sorry I didn’t obviously mean that to happen, but in the meantime, filming, look!
‘Filming is not affected, but whatever happens, God sometimes does a small poo in your man bag doesn’t he.
‘But we’re gonna be OK, and also whatever life throws at you, you’ve got to grow old disgracefully, I’ll update you as I go. Lots of love!’
Among those to share messages of support for Henry was Elizabeth Hurley, who starred in his 1995 film Mad Dogs and Englishmen, and she commented: ‘I love you .’
Henry previously opened up about his heroin addiction in an interview with The Telegraph in 2019, admitting he suffered a downward spiral during his time working as a news cameraman.
He said: ‘I was spending £250 a day on heroin, drawing on my overdraft and what I could bleed from my little company. Luckily, I hadn’t signed any personal guarantees.
‘In the late Eighties I became a virtual recluse. I couldn’t even face going out to get drugs and had them delivered by dispatch riders at a cost of £7,000 a year. Weirdly, the only people I ever saw were Luke and Matt Goss from the pop band Bros, who lived in the flat upstairs.
The star is best known for hosting shows including The Motorbike Show and Shed and Buried, after first launching his career as a news cameraman and director
Henry told his followers in a video that he is expected to make a ‘full recovery,’ and said the cancer is ‘easy to operate on’
‘I went into a serious mental decline and stopped paying the mortgage on the flat I shared with my then girlfriend, who left me. Not long after several failed suicide attempts, my belongings were repossessed.’
After starting his career as a cameraman and director, Henry launched his own production company, which has fronted an array of motorbike-themed shows, including World’s Greatest Motorcycle Rides, The Motorbike Show, Shed and Buried, Junk & Disorderly and Find It, Fix It, Flog It.
He shares two sons, Charlie and Tom, with his wife Janie.
