Esther Rantzen's daughter appalled by sickening fake photos claiming to show star in coma

The daughter of Dame Esther Rantzen has blasted “appalling” online trolls as after they used AI to post fake photos online claiming to show the TV host in a hospital bed looking close to death.

Becca Wilcox appeared on BBC One’s Morning Live show to insist her mum was doing as well as she could be dealing with lung cancer at home, and did not look anything like the fake photos. She said: “I was just appalled by them. And I just want to say, first off, obviously these are not real pictures, they are fake pictures of what mum supposedly looks like.

“There is one I really hate because I think she is supposed to be dead or in a coma. It is an extraordinary thing to do I mean, a weird and horrible thing. She doesn’t look like that.

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“She's been very private about her battle with cancer. She knows that this is something that people are probably interested in, and she tries to do as much audio as possible. But for her, this journey is one that she wants to take with the privacy of her family, like lots of her friends haven't seen her for months and months, so that's the first thing they're seeing.

“I've had to warn my brother to tell his kids that these pictures are out there, that they're not they're not real. That's not what she looks like.” Giving an update on Esther’s health, Becca added they had a birthday celebration for her last weekend and showed new unseen photos of her mother alone and alongside her.

Becca added: “She looks great. You know, she has terminal cancer. She looks different to how she didn't fall but she looks incredible.

“What I'm really grateful is to show you these pictures, which is how she really looks. This is her Sunday (showing photos on screen). It was her birthday party. We had a huge half pavlova cake. And you know, this is, this is her walking around her garden, completely different. Yes, some people are in hospital beds, some people are unwell, but that was a fake picture. This is what she looks like. This is literally last Sunday. I wanted you to see Mum looking well.

“I just want to put the record straight that she if she's not on a hospital bed, she's not dead. They're not real, they're not real pictures.”

In May 2023, Esther Rantzen has revealed her lung cancer, which she was diagnosed with in January, was in stage four. In as about her health, Dame Esther told the Mirror: "I'm on one of the new medications, and nobody knows if it's working or not. But I will have a scan fairly soon which will reveal one way or another."

At the time she explained she had gone public with her lung cancer diagnosis "because I find it difficult to skulk around various hospitals wearing an unconvincing disguise”.

Since then she has been a prominent supporter of the bill giving terminally ill adults in England and Wales the right to an assisted death. Stage four is the most advanced stage of lung cancer, and means the cancer has spread beyond the lungs or from one lung to the other. Dame Esther, who turned 85 on Sunday, enjoyed a successful TV presenting career which included hosting BBC consumer show That's Life! for 21 years.

In the segment on Morning Live, presenters pointed out that fake photos are becoming more of a problem online.

* Morning Live is made by BBC Studios Entertainment. Watch weekdays from 9.30am on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.