Former Good Morning Britain presenter Piers Morgan has described pal Sarah Ferguson’s “untypical” behaviour after he contacted her about the news of her breast cancer.
The TalkTV host, 58, has been friends with the Duchess of York, 63, for nearly 30 years – so the news of her illness came as a big shock to him.
Piers revealed that, after hearing about Sarah’s diagnosis, he texted her: “Just seen the news, so sorry you’ve been through such a scary time – sending you love and support, and continued success with your treatment.”
“Time to heal and nurture me now!” Sarah apparently replied, minutes later. “Hopefully caught in time x thank you.”
While this might appear to be a relatively normal exchange, Piers explained in his latest column for the Sun that it was “the first time I’d ever heard her speak about the need to put herself before others, and it took a life-threatening moment to do it”.
“It’s typical of her to instantly try to turn such a negative experience into a positive, but very untypical of her to suspend her astoundingly selfless instincts and focus instead on helping herself,” Piers wrote.
“I’m very glad she is though, because the world’s a better place with a healthy vibrant Sarah Ferguson in it.
“She’s one of my favourite people; incredibly kind and empathetic, absurdly generous, endearingly modest, hilariously fun-loving, and ferociously loyal.”
Recently appearing on the podcast Tea Talks with entrepreneur Sarah Thompson, the royal similarly talked about viewing her illness as a change to “nurture herself” and “stop trying to fix everyone else.”
Elsewhere in his column, Piers described how the late Princess Diana had had Fergie’s back when he first met the former wife of Prince Andrew in 1996.
At the time, the Princess had apparently begged Piers to “go easy” on her sister-in-law, who was having a bad time in the press, insisting that she “means well and has a big heart”.
The Duchess of York is currently recuperating with family after having a single mastectomy after being diagnosed with breast cancer following a routine mammogram screening.
Her spokesman said: “She was advised she needed to undergo surgery which has taken place successfully.”
He added that doctors have told her that the prognosis is good and said she was “receiving the best medical care”.
She underwent the procedure earlier this week at King Edward VII Hospital, which previously treated the late Queen Elizabeth II and other senior royals.
