Dame Esther Rantzen has breast cancer (Image: Getty)
Broadcaster Dame Esther Rantzen has opened up about her dream of being reunited with her late husband in the afterlife. Esther, who is turning 86 years old today, was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer in 2023 and revealed earlier this year that the medicine, which was keeping the illness “at bay,” had stopped working.
This spring, she addressed her passing and told The Times: “If there is a heaven, it would be a very happy place. It’s a lovely idea to meet Desmond again and all those I have loved and lost – my parents and grandparents, my close friends and family.” She was married to Desmond for more than two decades, but he died in 2000 aged 69, following a heart attack. They share three children together.
Dame Esther has been a broadcaster for decades (Image: Getty)
Their daughter, Rebecca Wilcox, recently addressed her mother turning 86 with Vanessa Feltz.
Rebecca, 46, told Vanessa: “It’s her birthday coming up. She’s going to be 86, which is brilliant. She’s as astonished as anybody that she’s still here.
“We are so grateful. She was diagnosed three years ago with terminal stage four lung and breast cancer, so every day is a wonderful miracle, and we really are cherishing it. We are just so grateful to have her here.”
“Her garden is her passion,” Rebecca explained. “It is gorgeous.
“She’s an early adopter of rewilding. Monty Don has nothing on her. They built this garden from nothing. It was a dilapidated farm. I got married there.”
