Brenda Edwards reveals Jamal moved back home ‘to protect’ her after she was diagnosed with breast cancer-Meghna Amin-Entertainment – Metro

Loose Women star Brenda Edwards has opened up about her late son Jamal moving back home after she was diagnosed with breast cancer.

The 53-year-old was diagnosed with stage three breast cancer in 2015, after she felt a lump during her stint on the musical Hairspray.

Having previously spoken about her diagnosis, Brenda called it ‘very frightening, scary,’ saying: ‘I didn’t know what to do, what to make of it or how to handle it.’

In August 2016, Brenda shared that she got the all-clear, after six months of chemotherapy and a mastectomy.

During the difficult period, Brenda’s son Jamal moved back home to ‘protect’ her.

She revealed on Loose Women today: ‘I haven’t lived on my own, apart from when I’m touring.

‘But with the kids, when I got breast cancer, Jamal moved out when he was 21, but when I was diagnosed with breast cancer, he wanted to move back in to support and protect mummy.

Jamal moved back home ‘to protect mummy’ (Picture: INSTAGRAM)

‘So he moved back in, and Tanisha, I just don’t want her to go.’

‘But both of them have said, “We’ll move out, but there’s a house next door”.’ she added, speaking of her close family.

Edwards died after suffering a cardiac arrest earlier this year at the age of 31.

Brenda had taken a break from Loose Women at the time, but returned two months later, sharing a powerful tribute to her son during her first show back.

Jamal Edwards died in February (Picture: Joseph Okpako/WireImage)

The comments today came amid a discussion with her fellow panellists about whether they could live alone, whether they had moved back home before or had any of their children move back home amid the cost of living crisis, which has seen many young people return home to their parents to save money.

Brenda is now working to continue her son’s legacy through the Jamal Edwards Self Belief Trust, which recently hosted its first ever fundraising event.

She recently told PA of the fundraiser: ‘I think I can sum it up in two words – self-belief – and that’s what this is about. And Jamal taught me self-belief when I was going through my cancer, he said: “Mummy have some self-belief”.

Brenda and her daughter Tanisha at the Jamal Edwards Self Belief Trust inaugural fundraiser (Picture: Samir Hussein/Getty Images for Jamal Edwards Self Belief Trust)

More: Trending

‘And that’s what we need to get out to the young people for them to remember because the young people are the future of tomorrow and it’s important to me to give them that platform that they can feel empowered, that they can feel strength and that they can feel that someone’s there listening to them.’

She continued: ‘That’s what we’re trying to do with the trust and we will achieve that, because we have self-belief.’

Loose Women airs weekdays from 12.30pm on ITV.

Got a story?

If you’ve got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the Metro.co.uk entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@metro.co.uk, calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we’d love to hear from you.

MORE : ‘She was robbed!’: Loose Women furious after Kaye Adams becomes first star booted from Strictly

MORE : Loose Women’s Denise Welch ‘wishes Boris Johnson had never gone’: ‘We’re in a worse mess’

Entertainment – MetroRead More