Esther Rantzen unveils she's 'afraid of dying' in heartbreaking admission

Dame Esther Rantzen admitted that she is "afraid of dying badly". The 85-year-old TV host was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer in 2023, and she was being treated with a new drug that was keeping the disease "at bay", but it was revealed this year that the medicine has stopped working. Esther had previously considered travelling to Switzerland's Dignitas clinic to end her life and has been campaigning for assisted dying to be made legal in the UK. Earlier this month, she discussed her assisted dying plans ahead of the House of Lords debating the assisted dying bill.

The broadcaster made a plea in a pre-recorded phone chat with Kate Garraway on Good Morning Britain. She said: "I'm not afraid of death, but I am afraid of dying badly. I'm making arrangements because it's the only way I can have an assisted death to go to by myself to Zurich, to Dignitas."

In a heartbreaking moment, she continued: "I just wish I'm allowed to say goodbye to my family and for them to see that I have a good death."

She went on: "What makes me sad, Kate, is that some disabled people think that it will apply to them, well, it can't, it won't, unless they're terminally ill with six months or less to live! Please, House of Lords, give us terminally ill patients the hope, the choice that if life gets unbearable, they can ask for help."

Last year, Esther spoke of how her medication had extended her life, but she was aware it wouldn't keep working forever. She told The Sunday Times newspaper: "It doesn't cure it, it delays it - and at some point, it will stop working.

"But I have scans to see if it's still working, and at the moment it is. I'm awfully glad I put in the tulips now. I'm having to make the same decision about my birthday [on June 22] - I didn't think I'd ever be 84 and now it looks like I might be. I'm keeping everything crossed for that."

Esther was previously married to Desmond - the father of her three children - for more than 20 years, but she lost him in 2000 when he died aged 69 from a heart attack.

The broadcaster previously admitted she longed to see her husband again. During an appearance on Piers Morgan's Life Stories, Esther told the host: "Desmond's last words to me were: 'I adore you'. I was sitting on his deathbed.

"I will take those words with me to the grave. I said to my son last night: 'If God gave me the choice between 10 more years of life and 10 more minutes with Desi, I would pick those 10 minutes'."