Jonnie Irwin, the host of several U.K. property shows, revealed that he has terminal lung cancer, which has spread to his brain. Irwin, 48, wanted to fight his illness privately, but decided to speak out in an interview with Hello! Magazine. Irwin and his wife Jessica, 40, have three children, son Rex, 3, and two-year-old twins Rafa and Cormac.
“I don’t know how long I have left, but I try to stay positive and my attitude is that I’m living with cancer, not dying from it,” Irwin told the magazine on Nov. 13. “I set little markers – things I want to be around for. I got into the habit of saying: ‘Don’t plan ahead because I might not be well enough.’ But now I want to make plans. I want to make memories and capture these moments with my family because the reality is, my boys are going to grow up not knowing their dad and that breaks my heart.”
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Irwin was filming A Place in the Sun in Italy in August 2020 when his vision went blurry while he was driving. It was the first sign that something was wrong. His doctors later discovered that he had lung cancer and it already spread to his brain. His doctors gave him six months to live. When he arrived back in the U.K., he felt the only thing he could do was “apologize” to Jessica. “I felt so responsible,” he said.
The Escape to the Country host credited chemotherapy and cancer drugs with prolonging his life. He kept the diagnosis private though, only telling a small group of friends and family. At some point, it felt like he was carrying a “monkey on my back,” so Irwin decided it was time to come forward. Irwin hopes that his story can inspire others to pursue a positive life, even with the knowledge that they have a terminal illness.
“One day, this is going to catch up with me,” Irwin said. “But I’m doing everything I can to hold that day off for as long as possible. I owe that to Jess and our boys. Some people in my position have bucket lists, but I just want us to do as much as we can as a family.”
Irwin also hopes that more people will get life insurance. He is a “risk-taker” and did not get life insurance until after his twins were born. “That has helped so much and when I leave this planet, I’ll do so knowing Jess and the boys are in a house that is fully paid off and there’s a bit of money in the bank for them to live off,” he told Hello.
Irwin rose to fame as the host of A Place in the Sun, a Channel 4 lifestyle series with hosts searching for the “perfect” properties around the world. He also hosted Escape to the Country and To Buy or Not to Buy for BBC and Dream Lives for Sale for Sky 1. Irwin and Jessica married in September 2016.
