Kirsty Young recalled how having to step away from broadcasting for a few years due to her chronic pain condition led her to question her own identity, saying “you lose your sense of self”.
Appearing on a special edition of Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs, which she hosted for 12 years, Young told current presenter Lauren Laverne that she is now feeling “so much better” – and reflected on the experience of returning to broadcasting.
The 54-year-old TV and radio presenter hosted around 500 editions of the show between 2006 and 2018, before having to take time off to undergo treatment for fibromyalgia and rheumatoid arthritis.
In the broadcast, which aired on Christmas Day, Young explained that he originally spent a year consulting with different specialists, trying to figure out what the nature of his condition was until he found a “brilliant” professor of rheumatology who diagnosed it.
She said he also warned her that she had to take her condition “seriously” and reduce the stress in her life along with medical treatment to get better.
“It was said extremely gently, but it was just a moment of absolute reality and clarity and I remember pulling up in my car and having a good old fashioned, to use a good old Scottish word, a good old fashioned greeting and I thought ‘okay, well, those are the facts and you’re really going to have to think about it,’” she said.
“I am very aware when talking about this, people sit in front of doctors and they get much more serious diagnoses than what I got but it is a very painful thing and I was in pain and a long term chronic pain condition is a problem. Absolute pain, literally and metaphorically, to deal with.
“It wears you down, you lose your personality, you lose your sense of humor, you lose your sense of self. There are all kinds of things that go along with that. It’s horrible. So I had to take it seriously if I wanted to improve. So I did.”
Young admitted that she felt “very shaken up” by having to leave her job at the network, which she “absolutely loved”.
She added: “I thought if I’m not that, what am I for? What is a Kirsty for? I felt it.
“That was ridiculous, obviously, because to use that well-worn phrase, ‘The cracks are where the light comes in,’ and all sorts of other things happened that were good.
“In that moment, you kind of lose yourself. And when you’re in chronic pain, you kind of lose yourself anyway, so there’s a lot going on.”
Fibromyalgia, also called fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS), is a long-term condition that causes pain throughout the body, according to the NHS.
Rheumatoid arthritis is described as a long-term condition that causes pain, swelling and stiffness in the joints.
After taking a few years off, Young was able to return to present part of the BBC’s coverage of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations earlier this year, as well as the final moments of the late monarch’s funeral at St George’s Chapel in Windsor.
The broadcaster said it wanted to find the right words to end the show and sum up the magnitude of the historic day, but admitted: “I really had a moment. It was exciting.”
The Christmas Day episode also marks the end of 80 years for Desert Island Discs. Young interviewed 496 castaways during his time on the show.
Reflecting on the show’s appeal, she said: “I once described it as [having] kind of a hammock quality, just to fit the person who’s there.
“So if it’s a Premier League footballer or if it’s an astrophysicist, their music and the amount of time you spend talking to them, and also the museum entrances and exits, are kind of beautifully soft and comfortable.”
The full interview with Kirsty Young on Desert Island Discs will air on BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds on Christmas Day at 11.15am.
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