Richard Madeley has revealed he’s now deaf in one ear after contracting a nasty new strain of Covid.
The broadcaster, 67, revealed that the variant has left him with a perforated eardrum, comparing it to having ‘a cork in his right ear.’
Speaking to The Sun, Richard added that doctors have reassured him his ear will heal in a few weeks, but he still struggles to hear when in busy areas or large crowds.
He said: ‘Funnily enough, doing GMB, which I was a bit worried about, gives me better hearing because I wear my studio earpiece in that ear and I can wind up the volume to the max: it’s a bit like having a hearing aid I suppose.
‘I’ll just have to be patient – my ENT [Ear, Nose and Throat] guy says perforated eardrums take a few weeks to self-heal. So there’ll be a lot of ”pardon?” and ”what?” from me between now and Christmas.’
Revelation: Richard Madeley has revealed he’s now deaf in one ear after contracting a nasty new strain of Covid
Richard is set to appear in his daughter Chloe’s ITVBe’s fly-on-the-wall documentary, which follows the fitness guru adjusting to her first year of motherhood.
The series focuses on Chloe and her husband James Haskell adjusting to life as new parents to their daughter Bodhi, with Richard and Judy Finnigan set to make brief appearances.
In the interview, the pair also reflected on the controversy they’ve faced in the past, with Richard reflecting on when he was caught shoplifting back in 1994, when he was still a host on This Morning.
He said: ‘Thank God Twitter wasn’t around then. But the whole thing was so self-evidently b****cks, that my not paying was an oversight.’
Richard added that he appeared in court and was soon acquitted of the charges, adding that This Morning bosses stood by him, and he continued hosting the show as if nothing had happened.
In the interview, the Good Morning Britain star admitted that Phillip Schofield’s recent exit from This Morning was ‘pretty savage’ and ‘brutal.’
During a recent appearance of Loose Women & Men, Richard had to rate himself on different aspects of dating, including how good they are in the bedroom.
Richard, who has been married to Judy Finnigan for 37 years, said: ‘I have to say I passed on how good are you in bed, there’s no way I’m going to self rate on that on national television but you all answered.’
Painful: The broadcaster revealed that the variant has left him with a perforated eardrum, comparing it to having ‘a cork in his right ear’
On the mend: Richard (pictured with his GMB co-host Susanna Reid) said that using an earpiece during filming has helped with his hearing
Elsewhere during the show, Richard was dubbed the pregnancy whisperer as he revealed his hidden talent.
He confessed: ‘I can really tell quite early on when someone is expecting. I remember once I was in a restaurant and Gaby Roslin walked in.
‘And she had just been on a major diet and it was all over the papers. She had lost a lot of weight and she came in with her mum and two female friends. They sat down, she was stick thin.
‘I went over to the table like you do, ‘hello, how are you doing?’. I had a little chat and I suddenly heard myself say “Gaby are you pregnant?” And she looked at me and said “thanks a lot, I just lost loads of weight”‘.
‘I said “oh I am so sorry”. I don’t know why I said that but we had a laugh and I went back to the table.
‘But that night about 6 o’clock the phone goes and it was Gaby. She said “you witch, I am pregnant. I only discovered this morning and had weed on a stick. How did you know?” I said I don’t know, I just kind of knew.’
