Jonnie Irwin was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer after first experiencing symptoms in 2020 but the A Place in the Sun star has revealed he made a huge "mistake" about his illness that he "wants people to learn" from.
The Channel 4 presenter has revealed he regrets not taking out critical illness insurance and explained he was forced to "keep working" because of this "mistake".
"I didn’t take critical illness insurance out and therefore I had to keep working,” the star said. “Without work, I’ve got no means of paying the bills. And if I had taken the critical illness insurance out, that could’ve covered my outgoings and I probably could’ve told the world [about his condition] a lot sooner."
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Jonnie told AIG Life's The OneChat podcast that he feels "ridiculous" for not considering this level of insurance after being diagnosed with terminal lung cancer.
He continued: “I could’ve had two years of living a more open lifestyle. And I want people to learn from that mistake. I think at the time I just thought I can better spend that money elsewhere. Where I don’t know. I’ve not frittered it away. Maybe because I know what benefits it would have had, it just seems ridiculous that I didn’t.
“I thought I was doing well just taking out life insurance. It’s one positive thing and helped me a great deal in getting a financial position in life to know my wife and my boys are more secure. But how I wish I’d taken out that extra cover.”
The A Place in the Sun star admitted the "hardest thing" he's ever had to do was tell his wife he had been diagnosed with terminal cancer just two months after she gave birth to twins.
“I can remember it like it was yesterday. And I’ve got no memory since my whole brain therapy. But that bloody memory stays in my head. And it is brutal. All I can remember is hugging her and just saying, 'Sorry,'" Jonnie added.
The beloved TV presenter is battling cancer which has since spread to his brain after his diagnosis in 2020.
Doctors told him he only had six months to live when he was diagnosed but the presenter has defied those predictions.
