Property Ladder star Sarah Beeny says marriage is 'hanging by fingernails' after cancer struggle

26 October 2023, 07:32

Sarah Beeny has said her marriage is hanging on by its fingernails
Sarah Beeny has said her marriage is hanging on by its fingernails. Picture: Instagram/Getty

By Kit Heren

Property Ladder star Sarah Beeny has said her marriage is "hanging on by its fingernails" after living with cancer.

Listen to this article

Loading audio...

Beeny, 51. who was given the all-clear from breast cancer six months ago after being diagnosed in August 2022, said her husband Graham Swift had found her hard to live with.

She admitted that the couple had only stayed together for the sake of their four children.

"We’re hanging on in there by our fingernails. I mean, it’s not easy, is it?," Beeny said.

"Graham always said, ‘the day we have to work at our marriage, I’m going to leave’.

"And I was like, ‘really?’ But I think he has had to work at it to be honest."

Read more: Broadcaster Sarah Beeny reveals cancer diagnosis – four decades after her mother died from the disease

Read more: Property Ladder star Sarah Beeny in row with neighbours over lake plans at £3 million home, while also battling cancer

Sarah Beeny and her husband Graham Swift
Sarah Beeny and her husband Graham Swift. Picture: Getty

She added: "I was being particularly horrible, because I have been a bit horrible in the last couple of years to be honest at times.”

Beeny said that her husband told her that neither of them would want to live apart from their teenage children.

Speaking on Gabby Logan's podcast The Midpoint, Beeny said her husband told her: "'You know the thing is Sarah, you’re not prepared to leave and have your children half the time, and neither am I, so we’re going to stay together.

"And we’re going to stay together happily or unhappily, so which would you like it to be?’

“And I was like, 'oh that is quite dark, isn’t it?'

Sarah Beeny
Sarah Beeny. Picture: Getty

“He said ‘you want to be happy or unhappy, because either way we’re still going to live together’, so I was like, ‘OK we’ll do happy then, shall we?’. He was like, ‘what a good idea, maybe you should be a bit nicer?’

"I was like, ‘yeah alright I will.’ So logical, isn’t it?”

As well as Property Ladder, Beeny is best known for fronting Channel 4 series Sarah Beeny's Little House Big Plans and Sarah Beeny's New Life In The Country, as well as founding collapsed online estate agent Tepilo.

She told the Telegraph in 2022 that she had “a little bit of a breakdown” when doctors revealed the initial cancer diagnosis.

She added: “I thought, ‘You don’t understand. I have waited 40 years to hear those words.’ I knew I was going to hear it one day."

Sarah Beeny and her husband Graham Swift
Sarah Beeny and her husband Graham Swift. Picture: Alamy

Describing how the loss of her mother taught her “resilience” aged ten, the property expert revealed she was too young to understand the magnitude of her mother’s illness at the time.

“I knew she’d had a mastectomy but I didn’t know what a mastectomy was. I didn’t know what cancer was. I didn’t know until the day she died,” she explained.

Explaining how her mother died at home following a lengthy battle with the disease – which subsequently spread from her breast to her brain, the presenter recalled overhearing the doctor explaining her mother “wouldn’t wake up”.

But Beeny said her fear of the disease was greater than the battle itself.

“That final frontier of fear in my life is sort of done,” she admitted.

Sarah Beeny
Sarah Beeny. Picture: Getty

“They just said, ‘You will be honest?’ and I said, ‘I promise you that I’m going to be around for a jolly long time yet.

“It’s going to be a bit difficult. But I promise I won’t lie.’ And I think they were OK once I said that.”

Admitting the “fear makes you pack a lot in”, Beeny recalled how her own diagnosis “opened a tinderbox of stuff that I’ve carefully swept under the carpet for a really long time”.

More Latest News

See more More Latest News

Breaking
Breaking News

Pensioner arrested over 'Day of the Jackal threat to kill PM' posted on social media

Police at the scene in central London on Monday at 'Fast Eddie's' mansion

Three knifed at playboy’s notorious £15m London mansion where Bonnie Blue filmed sex party

The body of Scottish businessman Campbell Scott was found in a remote area 60 miles from Nairobi

Scottish businessman's body found in sack in Kenya with 'his hands and feet bound with rope'

A Biscoff ice cream product has been recalled

Popular Biscoff treat urgently recalled from shelves amid health fears after 'undeclared' allergy risk discovered

Polish Armed Forces Day Celebrated In Warsaw, Poland

NATO scrambles warplanes in Poland after Russia launches latest strikes on Ukraine

Mikel Arteta (Arsenal manager) applauds the fans on the final whistle at the Arsenal v West Ham United

'Over my dead body': Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta won't concede Premier League title to Liverpool

Amanda Pritchard's resignation as Chief Executive is expected to be confirmed this afternoon

NHS England chief executive Amanda Pritchard to step down from her role

Jose Mourinho was appointed Fenerbahce manager in 2024

Galatasaray accuse Fenerbahce boss Jose Mourinho of making 'racist statements'

Exclusive
Ofcom will 'name and shame' social media companies that don't take action to cut down abuse of women and girls

Social media companies to be 'named and shamed' for not protecting women and girls online, Ofcom chief tells LBC

Video footage shows police rushing towards the Hart Space during the attack

Horror footage shows moment police rush towards Southport dance studio while killer is still inside

Registered XL Bully dogs must be housed securely, neutered, kept on a lead and muzzled in public

Man in his 80s seriously injured after XL bully attack in Warrington

Ocean Infinity is searching for the downed plane

British team launches 'final search' for MH370, in bid to solve mystery of vanished plane 11 years on

The BBC has pulled the documentary from iPlayer while it does more 'due diligence'

BBC Gaza documentary cameraman ‘celebrated October 7 attacks’ as cost of film is revealed

Bessborough Road, where the crash took place

Pedestrian in her 40s killed in London bus crash as car driver arrested for dangerous driving

Energy bills are set to rise again

Energy bills to increase again as price cap rises more than expected

Exclusive
Boris Johnson has said the UK should spend more on defence

UK should spend 3% of GDP on defence and could send up to 10,000 troops to Ukraine, Boris Johnson tells LBC