Doctor Who actress Alex Kingston was diagnosed with the disease in 2024 and subsequently underwent a hysterectomy and radiation therapy

Alex Kingston is in recovery after battling uterine cancer in secret last year (Image: ITV )

Alex Kingston is in recovery after battling uterine cancer in secret last year. The Strictly contestant is currently competing on the BBC dance competition alongside Johannes Radebe. Known for her role in Doctor Who, Alex has revealed that she suffered in silence after battling uterine cancer last year. Speaking to the Independent, she unveiled: “I had a major operation. I had to have a hysterectomy, I had to go into radiation therapy, and that took up a huge part of my life …I had assumed that the way I was feeling was old age, and I just sort of accepted it. I thought: ‘OK, this is what it’s like to be in my sixties.’ But a lot of how I was feeling was to do with my illness.”

She added: “I never went down the cancer road in my head. It was a shock, because I have a very positive outlook on life in general. Even though my body was telling me there was something very seriously wrong, I kept thinking: ‘Oh, I’ve got a bad UTI or fibroids’.”

Alex is best known for her iconic role on Doctor Who (Image: PA )

After undergoing the hysterectomy and a course of radiation therapy, Alex says that she now feels better than she has in years.

She added: “Despite having gone through all of that – and any cancer is really tough to accept, to steel yourself to go through all of the necessary procedures to get back into health – the minute I had the operation, I suddenly felt like myself again … [I] hadn’t felt like that for years.”

She then advised others to consult a doctor about any unusual symptoms, as early intervention could save lives. Womb cancer symptoms include unusual heavy periods, a lump or swelling in your tummy or between your hip bones, and bleeding or spotting after menopause.

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The Doctor Who actress said: “Womb cancer is really tricky because it is so sneaky. What I would say is, the body does know – and that was the body saying to me: ‘Help! There’s something really wrong.”

Alex has been married to television producer Jonathan Stamp since 2015. She was previously married to Harry Potter actor Ralph Fiennes and German journalist Florian Haertel.

Strictly Come Dancing returns tomorrow evening on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.

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