Sue Perkins has revealed that she was on the receiving end of a homophobic comment from a doctor, moments after being told she was infertile.
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The ‘Great British Bake Off’ host was informed she would be unable to naturally have children, having been diagnosed with a benign tumour in her pituitary gland.
Upon being informed of the heartbreaking news, her consultant made an insensitive aside about her sexuality.
Sue Perkins
Writing in her memoirs, extracts of which have appeared in the Sunday Times, Sue explained that she was asked if she was married or had a boyfriend, to which she replied that she is a lesbian.
According to the presenter, she was then told: “Oh, OK. Well that makes it easier. You're infertile. You can't have kids.”
The comment left Sue shocked, and recalling the incident in her autobiography, 'Spectacles', she writes: “Does not a lesbian have a fallopian tube? Am I not human, and [am] I not somebody who could be a lovely, wonderful mother?”
Sue also described finding out she was infertile as like a “bereavement”, explaining: “It really hit me, as it hits a lot of people, I'm sure, when it's too late, this is not going to happen, And although I never yearned to physically have my own child, it felt like bereavement.
“It just felt like I was sitting there with a pencil going, what's the best way to have a daddy? What's the best way to have two mummies? And it just felt like I was sitting there with a f****** pencil in my hand, and this isn't the way to start being a mother, and that's what was really painful."
Sue with girlfriend Anna Richardson (right) and pal Tracey Ann Oberman
The comic, who is currently in a relationship with fellow TV presenter Anna Richardson, has been living with her brain tumour for eight years, but only spoke about it for the first time last month.
She first discovered the benign mass when she underwent tests as part of BBC show, 'The Supersizers Eat'.
“Sometimes it’s big and makes me mad, and sometimes it’s small and is in the background,” she told Good Housekeeping.
"I have various tests now to make sure the side effects aren’t too onerous."
