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Ali Condon
Jonathan Ross has revealed that his eldest daughter Betty has been using a wheelchair to help her cope with the symptoms of her long-term illness.
The TV presenter opened up about the effect that fibromyalgia has had on his daughter's life, from chronic fatigue to mental health struggles.
Fibromyalgia is a long-term condition that can cause pain all over the body, muscle stiffness, fatigue and sleeping issues, brain fog, and low moods.
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Betty also suffers from postural tachycardia syndrome (POTS), which causes an abnormal increase in heart rate that occurs after sitting up or standing.
Speaking to Loose Women on Friday (30 December), Jonathan explained: "She has fibromyalgia and she has chronic fatigue syndrome and POTS syndrome as well, which is where your heart rate shoots up."
He continued: "We found a good… there's a thing called the Perrin treatment. The guy who invented it, he came to talk to me about it and she looked it up online because she's a smart young woman, so she has to want to do the treatment.
"You know, I mean, I can't just say to her 'try this, try that' if she thinks it's wrong in some way and if she's not going to enter it one hundred per cent, of course it's not worth doing.
"But we've been having that treatment going on and she's definitely showing some improvement."
Explaining the effects that the illness has had on his daughter, the host said: "She still can't walk very far. We got her an electric wheelchair in the summer, so we can at least go out and go for walks with the dogs and that's lifted her spirits a lot.
"Because that's the problem, if anyone out there who knows or who's got someone with a long term illness, you know, it's the depression.
"Being stuck indoors and not being able to join in with things because even stairs are a challenge to her.
"So if we're going out we have to give her plenty of time to get ready, get downstairs and then have a rest before we go to the next step, you know."
The good news is Betty is 'definitely showing improvement and feeling better in herself' - an update that has Jonathan and the rest of his family 'relieved'.
Both Jonathan and Betty first spoke out about her illness in 2021.
The broadcaster cancelled his annual Halloween party that October, explaining at the time: "One of our children isn't well... it's fibromyalgia which is quite debilitating.
"She's back home with us and we're looking after her. She's upstairs and I thought, 'I can't in good conscience have a big loud fun party downstairs and one of my kids is locked in a room upstairs'. It would be like something out of a horror novel.'"
A month earlier, Betty announced her fibromyalgia diagnosis on Instagram, and explained that she was glad her pain was being acknowledged.
"Shout out to the four people who all said they thought I had fibro, turns out y’all were right,” she had written.
"There’s always a lot of weird feelings that come with a new diagnosis, but this one overall feels like a relief."