Loose Women panellist Kéllé Bryan says she hasn’t “always had boundaries” – particularly when she was part of Nineties girl group Eternal.
This came to a head when she was diagnosed with lupus in 1998 and was told by doctors that this autoimmune disease could have life-changing implications.
“When I got my diagnosis, a doctor told me that there was no cure and that I would probably never be able to walk again or have children,” recollects Bryan.
“When he finished I said ‘if you could sign me off that would be great because I’ve got to be on a plane to shoot my music video’, and I remember the room going really silent.”
The British R&B girl group rose to fame in the early Nineties – with hits like I Wanna Be The Only One with BeBe Winans, Stay and Just A Step From Heaven – and Bryan left the band the same year as her diagnosis.
“I think sometimes with the busyness of life we can override our bodies quite a lot and not listen to them because we have a deadline and feel pressured to do things straight away,” says the 51-year-old broadcaster, who is currently in remission from lupus after been given the all-clear earlier this year.
“I haven’t always had boundaries, especially in my Eternal days where I had no control over my time or energy.
“However, I’m much more conscious now about making different decisions and honouring my temple.
“I remind myself that this is my body and hopefully I’m going to have it for a very long time, so I have to respect what it needs rather than overriding it all the time.”
She says her diagnosis was a turning point: “It wasn’t really until then that I then started to take my health a lot more seriously, such as what I was eating but also what was going on mentally,” reflects Bryan.
“I had to get rid of all the toxicity from my life.
“We don’t often think about the effects of toxic people and relationships, but a lot of that toxicity can seep in and cause damage too.”
The actress and broadcaster is always whizzing around the country for different projects and wears many hats – including Magic FM presenter and CEO of London-based talent management and artist agency Advocate Agency – but she says she always consults her family before taking on any new jobs.
“I always tell my agent, I’m waiting for my kids, and if the family unit is happy, then I’ll take the job, and if they are not happy, I won’t. It’s as simple as that,” says Bryan, mum to Regan, 14, and Kayori Rose, 12, who she shares with husband Jay Gudgeon.
Bryan says she also makes it a priority to call her daughter every night before bed, even if she is on the red carpet.
“Wherever I am I will always do a video call with my daughter and she will tell me about her day and we’ll have a little check-in moment of how she’s feeling,” says Bryan.
“I remember I once called her next to the men’s toilets at the NTAs (National Television Awards) because it was the only place that was quiet.”
One of the biggest steps Bryan has taken for her health and wellbeing recently is refractive lens exchange (also known as lens replacement surgery), after years of feeling vulnerable with her eyesight.
“I used to feel very vulnerable because I couldn’t read things, and forgetting my glasses was terrifying,” says Bryan, who played Martine Deveraux in the Channel 4 soap opera Hollyoaks between 2018-2022.
“My poor close-up sight was causing me so much anxiety. While I was happy to wear frames, if my character did not wear glasses I was stuck. I hated drawing attention to myself in that way.”
She says that getting the all-clear for lupus this year and hearing fellow Loose Women panellists Denise Welch and Ruth Langsford’s positive experiences of the surgery is what pushed her to finally take the plunge and get the surgery.
After many consultations, Bryan had the vision correction treatment at Optegra Eye Hospital, Manchester, three months ago.
“Being in remission made me go, right, I’m going to do it because I felt like nothing was holding me back,” says Bryan.
“The process was made so much easier because I had people who had already been through it who I could talk to.
“Ruth [Langsford] was amazing. We were on a train together and she took me through every step, which made me feel a lot better in terms of the process.
“I can now read my cue cards at Loose and don’t need to take my glasses on and off. I’m very secure in my sight now, and that’s amazing.”
Bryan says one of the biggest benefits of being on a show like Loose Women is all the pearls of wisdom that she gets from the other panellists.
“We’re so fortunate because Loose Women is one of those platforms where it’s a bit like the barber shop. It’s a safe space to talk about these things, whether it’s menopause or teenagers,” says Bryan.
“I always get really good advice from the other girls because one of them has usually already been through what I’m going through at the time.
“For example, when I was first going through menopause and was thinking about getting the patch, one of the other panellists showed me what theirs looked like.
“It just normalises these conversations that you wouldn’t necessarily have with a GP, so I think it’s really important to have those networks of people that you can just be open with.”
