Louis’ housemates were left in tears as he opened up about his ‘rare’ form of cancer.
LOUIS Walsh’s pals have opened up about the ‘frail’ star after he revealed his shock cancer battle on Celebrity Big Brother.
During Friday’s episode of the ITV reality show, Louis, 71, shocked his housemates by revealing he had secretly battled cancer during the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown.
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Louis’ friends said he wanted to enjoy being in the house after going through his secret cancer battleCredit: Eroteme
The 71-year-old was diagnosed during lockdownCredit: PA:Press Association
Asked about how he fared during the pandemic, Louis said: “I was sick, and I think nobody knew I was sick. I had cancer. A mild version, a rare one.
“In my blood, I didn’t even know that I had it until I went to the hospital, and then they checked me, checked me, checked me, then they found it. They said it’s a rare one.”
Now, pals close to the former X Factor judge have shared more details about his illness and his reasons for signing up for Celebrity Big Brother.
They told The Mirror: “Louis is in remission currently but you can see how frail he is and that he has lost a lot of weight.
“It’s also the reason why he’s sleeping so much, it all took a lot out of him.”
They continued: “The whole experience was the main driver behind signing up for the show. He’d been really ill and just wanted to enjoy life again and thought “what the hell”.’
“It’s little wonder he has decided to immerse himself in the Celebrity Big Brother house. It’s almost as a reaction to what has happened.
“It was quite the ordeal, not least as the cancer is so rare that it took a while to get diagnosed.”
Louis explained to his housemates how he had Waldenstrom’s Macroglobulinemia, a rare type of blood cancer.
The condition sees some white blood cells undergo changes that turn them into cancer cells.
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The revelation moved his housemates, including TV chef Levi Roots and reality star Ekin-Su Culculoglu, to tears.
Ekin-Su asked: “Did it affect you mentally?”
Pointing to his head, Louis replied: “It did, I gotta be honest with you. It’s just up here, even when I go past a hospital I almost get sick.
“It’s all gone, I’m fine. It was just the shock of being sick and that word… nobody wants that word.
“I have it blocked out, a reality check, you see so many people sick and it’s terrible.
“In my world it was all about pop music and all that. I didn’t think of anybody getting sick or anything like that.
