Real Housewives of Cheshire star Tanya Bardsley has revealed the excruciating pain she want through before diagnosis which had left her cancelling work and not ‘living’
She may be known for her bubbly personality, but a crippling condition has knocked the wind out of Real Housewives star Tanya Bardsley ’s sails, she admits – leaving her in excruciating pain and turning her into a ‘monster’.
Now, she feels it’s time to open up about her horror health battles – and raise awareness for other women out there who may be suffering behind closed doors. The former model and reality TV star, 44, has been diagnosed with adenomyosis – a painful condition where the tissue that normally lines the uterus grows into its muscular wall.
And as Tanya admits, dealing with it sometimes turns her into ‘the troll under the bridge’, admitting she feels sorry for husband of 11 years Phil Bardsley, who she jokes married one person before having to deal with another person entirely.
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Years of pain and different doctors appointments, explains the mother-of-four – as well as, ultimately, a hysterectomy – left her feeling like she wasn’t really ‘living’. The condition which she calls the ‘evil twin of endometriosis’ left her cancelling nights out and work events at the last minute – as she simply couldn’t handle the excruciating pain.
But Tanya – who previously admitted she was worried Phil would ‘leave her’ amid her devastating health battles, also reveals that not getting solid answers from medical professionals when she sought out help in the first place left her pulling her hair out.
“I’ve always had bad periods,” Tanya tells OK. “Every month it was really painful, and then I sort of hit perimenopause, like really early, at 38.
“And it got worse and worse. The bleeding was getting heavier. Towards the end, it was like labour pains. I was literally on all fours, panting through the pain. I couldn’t have gone to work. It was just awful.”
According to the NHS, adenomyosis is more commonly diagnosed in women over the age of 30. While it’s not clear what causes it, you may be more likely to suffer from it if you are over that age – and have given birth.
After Tanya was eventually diagnosed last year, she was told the shocking news that her womb was 10 centimetres bigger than it should have been. “It was ruining my life. I wasn’t living. I felt weak all the time. I couldn’t plan anything.”
But she quips that hubby Phil, 40, was “useless” through it all – apart from bringing her the odd paracetamol. In agony, she would end up just screaming at him, she recalls. “It really is hard for him,” she confesses. “But it’s hard for women because we’re changing so much and we don’t mean to be angry.
“Sometimes I can hear what I’ve said, and I’m like, I didn’t mean it to come out like that, so I’ll try again, and it still comes out really aggressive! I don’t mean it to be.”
The Real Housewives of Cheshire star admits, her other half must have thought she was just whinging when doctors kept missing the symptoms. And it must have been “horrible” for her four children too. Tanya and former Sunderland star Phil share Rocco, 15, Renz, 12, and Ralphi, 5, with Tanya, as well as influencer Gabriella, 23, from a previous relationship.
“Obviously it’s not nice for the kids to be around,” she says. “Then I’m panicking and overthinking, when really, it’s just Mother Nature.” Adenomyosis affects roughly one in five women and Tanya thinks there will be many women with the condition and are “getting fobbed off”. “It’s a lot more common than people realise. Then when you throw perimenopause in the mix… yeah, women are really, really struggling. So please, be persistent when you go to your GP for answers.” Meanwhile, says Tanya, the chaos of family life in Cheshire continues apace. And it’s that authentic chaos that has made the family’s warts’n’all, fly-on-the-wall show, ITV ’s The Bardsley Bunch, such a success. Tanya calls it a “feel good family show” but it’s also hilariously candid – and sees her tell it like it is, including calling her own kids “t***ers”. Despite sharing her life on the Real Housewives, which she left in 2021 following a tough off-screen battle with anxiety and ADHD, Tanya was a little more wary about inviting cameras into her family home 24/7. “I thought, Oh God, I’m gonna get trolled by the Karens, with all our bickering. But not one. Even the Karens were complimentary. It’s authentic. This super-nice parenting? It’s not sustainable!” Tanya and Phil are preparing for their first Christmas away as a family. The clan usually stay at home due to former footballer Phil’s hectic festive schedule. But before 16-year-old budding footballer Rocco takes over the baton of being the family sporting star, the group are heading to Dubai for some winter sun. “We are going away this year – for the first time ever,” she tells us, excitedly. “We’re going to Dubai because we’ve never been away, obviously, because of Phil’s football. So I’m excited for a different kind of Christmas in the sun this year.” “As soon as Rocco is in the first team [he is currently in Stoke City’s academy], that will be us in England again, because I’ll never leave that big boy at Christmas.” Despite her excitement, Tanya admits that Christmas time always comes with a fiery flare up or two – not from her condition, but from the stresses and strains of the festive season. “Oh, my God, every Christmas we have arguments,” she laughs – as she claims that anyone who doesn’t have a big blazing row or two at this time of year is ‘clearly lying’. “We have more rows at Christmas time than at any other time. Every time we go Christmas shopping, we’re falling out by the time we’re at the end of the drive”, she says. “We’re never talking around the toy shop. Honestly, it’s not even just a one off. It’s every single Christmas. Holidays are the same. We’ve always fallen out by the time we get to the hotel. It must be healthy, though – because we’re 18 years in now. But yeah, we have some big, big rows.”
And long-suffering Phil doesn’t escape Tanya’s wrath when it comes to presents, either. Speaking of the best gift he’s ever got her, the TV personality praises him for gifting her a gorgeous ring once.
But after 18 years together, she laughs, she still doesn’t know how the former Manchester United star doesn’t know her shoe size. “He still buys me wrong size shoes I’m like it’s not f***ing hard, you know? So now, yeah, I just don’t take any chances. I just have to help him out.”
While Tanya refuses to buy into the Elf on the shelf craze – bluntly confessing that the whole trend ‘annoys her’ – there are a number of special family traditions she looks forward to each year.
“The kids normally have to wait on the stairs (in the morning). Phil goes down, puts the fire and the music on and goes to see if Father Christmas has been. So, then we shout ‘he’s been’, and they’ll all run down. And then it’s chaos from then on in – wrapping paper flying everywhere. But we love it.”
Source: Mirror
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