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Countryfile legend left in tears over 'agonising' issue shares health update
Reach Daily Express | March 16, 2026 1:40 AM CST

Former Countryfile star Michaela Strachan has shared a health update, having overcome a long-term injury and a battle with cancer. The 59-year-old is set to go on tour, where she will discuss her 40-year career as well as more personal moments, including her breast cancer diagnosis.

Michaela was diagnosed in 2014 and underwent a double mastectomy, followed by five years of taking tamoxifen. Last month, she spoke of a second health scare after Springwatch viewers noticed a lump on her throat. Thankfully, tests confirmed it was a benign cyst, which doctors were able to drain without complications. Reflecting on her breast cancer journey, Michaela said there have thankfully been no more scares and that she is feeling "great" ahead of her 60th birthday.

"I forget I've had breast cancer, which is an incredible situation to be in," she exclusively told us. "I really hope that's inspiring for other people going through it, if you are lucky like me and it ends up just [being] an operation, a double mastectomy, then I went onto tamoxifen for five years.

"It was about 12 or 13 years ago and I promise you that I forget that I've had it." She added about her health: "[I'm] all good, I'm [almost] 60 and I'm fit and well."

Last year, Michaela proved how fit she was when she signed up to Dancing On Ice. The 58-year-old made it to the final with her skating partner, Mark Hanretty, but missed out on the crown to Coronation Street actor Sam Aston.

Addressing her time on the show, she said that while she "absolutely loved" it, there were moments when she'd be "in tears" through pain. She explained: "When I started it I thought, 'Oh my God what have I agreed to? This is absolutely agonising'.

"I started the early training and I took my boots off and I was in tears because, I thought, 'This is painful, this is horrible'." As time went on, she adapted to the journey and grew to love it - until three days before the final when she sustained an injury.

"Without realising how serious it was, I tore my hamstring and my glutes and because I was full of adrenaline, and on anti-inflammatory [tablets] and painkillers, nobody realised how serious it was.

"It wasn't until a month later when I was not limping, but there was definitely something going on with my walk, someone said to me, 'I think you need an MRI because I think you've done something to your hip'. I went for an MRI and to everyone's surprise I had ruptured a hamstring and tore minor tears on my glutes."

Issuing an update, she added: "I reckon it's taken a year of doing proper rehab exercises regularly [to feel better]." Michaela's tour, Not Just A Wild Life, kicks off in April across venues in England. From The Wide Awake Club and The Hitman and Her to The Really Wild Show, Countryfile, Springwatch, and beyond, she will revisit the many moments that shaped her TV career.

She promises audiences can expect amusing stories, including one about how a rubber chicken launched her career. "I think of my career as a road that I'm travelling on, I've got a journey that I've planned and I've just gone off on tangents on that journey. And I've gone on wonderful detours that I'd never thought I'd go to and the road has completely changed. That's why we've decided to call [the show] Not Just A Wild Life, so that we can put in everything.

"But then trying to get everything in to two lots of 45 minutes has been really hard," she added. "What my career has given me has been incredible. Going on tour I want to celebrate that with the audience that has grown up and grown old with me," the former Countryfile star continued.

Tickets for Michaela's tour are available here.


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