BBC Breakfast presenter Naga Munchetty was diagnosed with adenomyosis back in 2022, but she’s admitted she struggled to open up about the chronic condition at the BBC
Naga Munchetty feared she’d be seen as “weak” at the BBC due to her health issues.
The 50-year-old BBC Breakfast host first revealed her diagnosis of adenomyosis back in May 2023 and has been open about the agonising health issue. The crippling womb condition has caused her chronic pain for over 30 years and she was initially dismissed by doctors before finally getting a diagnosis in September 2022.
Naga has now admitted she didn’t want to speak about her struggle with the health issue due to the competitive nature of the BBC. She said that “being seen to be weak is a concern”.
Speaking at a Women’s Health event at the Cheltenham Literary Festival, she said: “Legally, if you present with a health crisis or health condition, you have to be supported, but the fact is I’m a journalist in a highly competitive environment, and I’ve alluded to this, that being seen to be weak is a concern.”
Naga also turned down a hysterectomy, the only available cure for the condition, as she couldn’t afford to take six weeks off of work. The presenter worried she would not “be up to scratch” after such a long time off air.
Naga told the festival that having a chronic condition was “not easy” in her industry. In the speech, heard by the Telegraph, she added: “‘I don’t know the answer in terms of how employers should be better because I just don’t think they get it.
“I was told it will get better when you have a baby. Like having a baby is a solution to anything. That’s more trauma than anything. And I didn’t want to.”
Adenomyosis is a condition where the lining of the womb grows within the muscular wall of the womb. It is not life-threatening but can cause severe symptoms, including excruciating pain, painful periods, a bloated tummy and pain during intercourse.
Naga got her adenomyosis diagnosis after suffering a particularly bad bout of chronic pain following a night out three years ago. “By the time I got to the front door I was bent double” she told Saga Magazine. “My husband had to help me upstairs. I felt dizzy, with excruciating, stabbing pain in my abdomen.
“I got into bed but couldn’t physically turn myself over, because I was crippled from the pain. My husband was having to turn me as I screamed.
She added: “The sheets were soaked in sweat, I was crying, which I rarely do. I was taking every kind of painkiller, but they didn’t touch the sides.”
Naga hosts BBC Breakfast with Charlie Stayt from Thursday to Saturday. She also hosts her 11am-2pm show on BBC Radio 5 Live from Monday to Wednesday.
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