ITV Loose Women Gloria Hunniford's health battle dramatic weight ...

Gloria Hunniford has suffered a number of health setbacks over the last few years.

The Loose Women panellist, who is back on screens today (January 4) on James Martin's Saturday Morning, discovered she had kidney stones just before Christmas in 2022, which led to her undergoing surgery.

After the operation to blast the stones and insert a stent, a second procedure was planned to remove it three weeks later. However, Gloria, 84, began feeling unwell again after the first operation.

Before her second surgery, doctors reassured her that she would "feel so much better".

The ITV presenter recalled: "The last thing they said before I went to theatre was, 'When I take this stent out you are going to feel so much better'."

But upon waking from the anaesthetic, she was told by a nurse that she was being moved to a different hospital.

She recalled: "But the next thing I knew coming out of the anaesthetic, was a nurse saying to me, 'Don't worry, don't panic but we are having to transfer you by ambulance to a different hospital because we can't get your blood pressure up'."

Gloria described the frightening moment she was transferred from a hospital in Maidstone, Kent, to a nearby A&E as feeling like all her energy had been drained.

The broadcaster was later told she had suffered sepsis of the kidney, a potentially fatal condition.

She explained: "Thankfully it hadn't gone beyond the kidney. I guess that's why I felt so awful and it did flatten me for a while."

After her fight with sepsis and the toll it took on her health, Gloria found herself needing more rest and struggling with a diminished appetite.

However, Gloria shattered the medical prognosis which suggested she would need six months to fully recuperate and returned to work after weeks.

In October 2024, Gloria sparked concern on Loose Women as she displayed a significant amount of weight loss. Her return came after a period of absence due to the devastating passing of her husband, Stephen Way.

Stephen died aged 85 in August after suffering a series of debilitating strokes.

During a heartfelt segment with co-hosts Charlene White, Olivia Attwood, and Denise Welch, Gloria opened up about her current state of health. This led Charlene to comment on Gloria's visibly slimmer figure since her previous stint on the show.

Charlene asked: "Obviously grief presents itself in different ways and it can do so physically as well. Before anyone starts, you know, worrying that you're unwell and that you're smaller than you were when you were here last time, can you clear that up?"

With characteristic wit, Gloria joked about always being the shortest on the Loose Women set, sharing: "The thing is that, obviously when your partner's ill, like the anxiety and the worry and all of that.

Gloria continued: "Of course I've lost weight because you don't eat properly, you're always thinking of the other person. But I am fine, thank you very much indeed and my two sons when they come to visit they always watch what I eat."

She concluded with a comforting assurance: "But I am fine!"