Brenda Edwards feared that history was "repeating" itself when she first learned about her devastating health condition. Brenda, a West End star and Loose Women panellist who achieved recognition on The X Factor in the early 2000s, discussed the fateful circumstances that led to her stage three breast cancer diagnosis in 2015.

Her insights emerged during an interview on the Midlife Messy and Marvellous podcast where Brenda - who has also been rumoured to be Toastie on The Masked Singer - explained that chemotherapy "brought on" her early menopause.

In the episode, the singer revealed that her discovery of a "frozen pea-sized bump" came after a conversation she'd had with a friend about another person's diagnosis, seemingly prompting her to check her own breast.

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It would mark the start of an arduous health journey for Brenda, who lost her parents in a car crash just days before Christmas at age four, one that initially made her fear that history was "repeating".

Brendadescribed how a conversation took place with a friend who worked with her on the musicalHairspray. Her friend was upset and crying and informed Brenda that her 26-year-old friend had been diagnosed with stage three breast cancer.

She said: "And I was like...because obviously what you hear. You hear that it's older and, you know, it doesn't affect a young person, and I literally ran my hand across my right breast, and I felt what I can only describe as a frozen pea-sized bump.

"But I wash every day in the shower, and I never felt it before, never felt it before, but that's how. And then, from that lump, I went to see the doctor, and they took all the tests.

"They did a biopsy, which was, you know, for me, I was crying at that point because I'm somebody who always goes for the worst and thinks the worst, and so I was already thinking something.

"And just the thought of, 'I don't want to leave my children in...as an orphan like my parents'. You know, I didn't want history repeating itself kind of thing, and so I kept it to myself and then ten days later, I got the diagnosis of stage three breast cancer."

In addition to chemotherapy, Brenda, who tragically also lost her son, Jamal Edwards, in 2022, aged just 31, from a cardiac arrest, also underwent a mastectomy and breast reconstruction.

Brenda is now, thankfully, cancer-free.

Speaking about her ordeal in October last year, she told The Mirror: "It really makes you appreciate life. It makes you want to grab each moment when you can in whatever way you can. You realise that life isn’t promised to you.

"I think I’ve also become a bit more confident since facing cancer, to talk about things that have happened to me and to be open."

Brenda is rumoured to be Toastie in The Masked Singer, which concludes tonight (Saturday, February 14) from 7pm to 8.30pm on ITV.

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