One of the stars of iconic TV show Birds of a Feather has revealed they came very close to death earlier this year following a routine operation. Linda Robson, 68, has she was touch and go for 10 days in intensive care as doctors battled to save her life. The mum of three had an operation on her pancreas after gallstones damaged it and tumours were found on it. However it proved to be far from straightforward.

"I was petrified in intensive care. I thought I was going to die. I had to have most of my pancreas removed because there were two tumours in a difficult position. I had to have a brain scan as well," the Loose Women presenter confessed. Thankfully her family rallied around her as she recovered and she said seeing her kids helped her through the ordeal. "They were at the hospital all the time. They’ve been amazing," she gushed.

The star was forced to take a break from her presenting duties on ITV's long running daytime staple after doctors found a small cyst on the gland.

Now fully recovered she is determined to enjoy herself. "I had to take a back seat for a little while to get better and now I am. I’m fine now. I’m on the mend. I want to make the most of life. I like being out and about now that my big worries are over. I feel a lot more ­confident now," she told The Sun.

This latest health setback comes after Linda opened up in 2024 about a difficult mental breakdown which led to her Loose Women co-star Stacey Solomon taking her to rehab. She took over a year off the show back in 2019 to focus on her health after suffering mentally and turning to alcohol.

She had previously told how her anxiety struggles began in 2008 when her son's friend Ben Kinsella was stabbed and died on a night out. From that day forward, she felt completely different when it came to the safety of her four children and struggled with anxiety and OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder).

A decade later she suffered a mental breakdown during a trip to Ibiza with her fellow Loose Women stars and ended up on suicide watch with Stacey helping her through rehab.

Speaking to Alison Hammond and Dermot O'Leary on This Morning she shared: "It all started in Ibiza, we used to go to a bootcamp, me and the Loose Women every summer. Then one year when I went I just found it really hard to get through the day. I started drinking, I'd never drunk before. Drinking anything to black out."

Linda went on to say that while she was given medication to help her, she ended up being in a worse state, adding: "My family were on suicide watch. Honestly, it was so bad. You've (Alison) known me for a long time and I've always been alright.

"There was two years where I weren't on Loose Women and then I went back to Loose Women four years ago and everything's been fine, I'm off of all medication, I haven't drunk for four years."