Emma Willis opens up about recent heart surgery after defect went unnoticed her whole life

Doctors discovered hole in presenter’s heart that had been there for almost five decades

TV presenter Emma Willis has opened up about undergoing heart surgery after doctors discovered a hole in her heart that had gone undetected for her entire life.

Willis, 49, recalled her “panic” after discovering she had a defect in the structure of her heart, which is known as congenital heart disease.

The former Big Brother host, who was diagnosed after a cardiologist appointment about her cholesterol, said it was “bonkers” that she had “no idea” what was happening in her body.

Speaking on This Morning, alongside her surgeon Ee Ling Hen, Willis said: “You find something out like that and you go ‘oh my goodness what does it mean.’

“You go to doctor Google and you see congenital heart disease, because that’s what it falls under, and you go into a panic because you think disease means ‘terrifying.’”

Before being diagnosed, the former Big Brother host went for numerous check ups last year and was told by doctors she had an enlarged heart. She was later referred to a cardiologist about her cholesterol at which point they discovered the disease. She underwent surgery at Royal Brompton Hospital in London.

Hen said that some people won’t notice symptoms of congenital heart disease, while others will due to the differing sizes of defects and their impact on the system.

The condition affects almost one in 100 babies born in the UK, according to the NHS. Symptoms include breathlessness, chest pains, tiredness, fainting during exercise, a blue tinge to the skip or lips, and swelling in the legs, tummy, eyes, hands, ankles, or feet.

Speaking to The Sun back in May, Willis admitted her diagnosis had panicked her initially: “I’m a brilliant overthinker, and my mind will go in every possible direction and scenario, so going into something like surgery, I really got myself at it, I get really anxious and nervous,” she said.

Of her recovery, she added: “It’s been much more of a psychological adjustment, because you don’t have a wound that you can see… It’s getting your head around the fact that your heart has to learn how to work in a different way to how it’s worked for nearly half a century.”