Coleen Nolan has revealed that she initially hid her cancer diagnosis from her family but was ultimately exposed by her son. In a recent episode of Skin, Unfiltered (a health-themed podcast by the British Skin Foundation), the Loose Women favourite opened up about her skin cancer diagnosis and why she decided to keep the news to herself.
Coleen is the youngest of the famous Nolan sisters, known for their 1979 song ‘I’m in the Mood for Dancing’. Sadly, the family has been devastated by cancer, with sisters Linda and Anne receiving diagnoses within days of each other.
In January, Linda passed away at 65, two decades after her first breast cancer diagnosis in 2005. She received the all clear in 2011 but had a secondary breast cancer diagnosis in 2017, and tragically, the cancer spread.
In 2023, Coleen revealed on an episode of the ITV chat show that she’d been diagnosed with basal cell carcinoma on her shoulder and melanoma on her face. Asked if it was difficult to tell her family about her diagnosis, Coleen disclosed that she didn’t tell them at first.
In fact, it would be her sisters’ health battles that would impact her decision, as the family was “going through so much”.
Coleen said: “Well, do you know what, I didn’t tell them, actually, initially, because I didn’t want to worry them. We were going through so much with my sister, Linda, at the time, and my elder sister at the time as well.”
She continued: “And then we were sitting there with the family one day, and out of the blue (I think it was my son, my oldest son), all of a sudden went, ‘Well, it’s like Mum now with her skin cancer.’
“And my whole family just went, ‘What?’ And I was just like, ‘Woah, wait a minute. It’s really fine, you know.’ And they were like, ‘Why didn’t you tell us?’ And I was just very much like, ‘There wasn’t really anything to tell.'”
Coleen added that if she’d had to have chemotherapy, she would have told them, but as it was carcinoma, she didn’t think to tell them. Meanwhile, as her sister underwent chemo, she admitted she ‘felt a bit silly doing it’.
However, in a heartwarming admission, she conceded that her family were “brilliant” and told her that she should have told them, noting that they were “all in it together.”
It wouldn’t be the first time that the family has been impacted by skin cancer. Linda lost her husband, Brian Hudson, to the condition in 2007 when he was 60.
Speaking to the Loose Women panel about her own diagnosis, Coleen explained that she initially noticed a small patch of red skin but assumed it was eczema.
She said: “I found this tiny bit of skin that was on my shoulder and it was quite red. I was putting oil on it and moisturiser on it but it just wouldn’t go.”
In a consultation with a dermatologist, she was diagnosed with basal cell carcinoma but was told it was “nothing to worry about,” according to Hello! magazine. She would, however, require chemotherapy cream, or alternatively, undergo skin removal.
Six weeks later, she asked him to check two marks on her face, and was subsequently diagnosed with melanoma.
You can learn more about skin cancer via the NHS website here.