Loose Women’s Katie Piper pulls out of breakfast show due to “unexpected medical procedure”

Loose Women star Katie Piper has pulled out of her ITV breakfast show after undergoing an “unexpected medical procedure”.

The former Strictly Come Dancing star has presented her own show, Katie Piper’s Breakfast Show, on ITV since 2022, but was absent today (June 8) as Good Morning Britain presenter Charlotte Hawkins stepped in to host.

Piper explained her absence with a post on Instagram, writing: “Sadly I’m not going to be on my breakfast show this weekend as I’ve had to have an unexpected medical procedure. All is well and I hope after some rest I’ll be back in the hot seat next weekend!”

Ken McKay/ITV/Shutterstock

The star also wished her replacement well in the caption to the post, writing: “I’ll be back soon … thank you @charlottehawkins1 for stepping in last minute”.

The comment section was filled with messages of support, with one follower writing: “Sending love Katie and I hope all goes well beautiful”. Another fan also sent their best wishes, writing: “Health comes first! Sending you lots of love and healing hugs”.

Hawkins also responded to Piper’s post, commenting “sending lots of love to you”, while fellow presenter Carol Vorderman wrote “Take care wonderful lady. You come first Telly is just telly. Sending huge love and respect xxx”.

Piper has previously missed episodes of the show due to her health, with the star revealing last year that she underwent surgery to stitch her eye closed, explaining at the time: “I had a planned procedure called a tarsorrhaphy, which is a semi-permanent closure of the eye.

“I’ve had quite a lot of problems with my eye in the last year-and-a-half. I don’t like to go on about it because there’s always somebody worse off. It’s been quite painful, so it’s quite a relief for me to finally have it stitched up because it’s a lot more comfortable.

“It’s not permanent, it’s probably going to be like a year like this and then hopefully I can have it opened.”