Good Morning Britain viewers have sent messages of support to Nicola Roberts after she made an emotional appearance on the show. The Girls Aloud star was live in the studio of the ITV news programme on Friday (September 22) to chat to hosts Kate Garraway and Ben Shephard.
Alongside Dr Hilary Jones, Nicola paid tribute to her late bandmate, Sarah Harding, who tragically died aged 39 in 2021 after being diagnosed with breast cancer. She was on the show with Dr Hilary to talk about the fundraising efforts she and her bandmates Cheryl, Kimberley Walsh and Nadine Coyle have done to fulfil Sarah's dying wish.
One of Sarah's final wishes was to find new ways of spotting breast cancer early, when it is more treatable. The new Breast Cancer Risk Assessment in Young Women (Bcan-Ray) project will become one of the first in the world to identify which women are at risk of getting the disease in their 30s.
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The project, which will run in Greater Manchester, is being made possible thanks to funding from the Christie Charity, Cancer Research UK and the Sarah Harding Breast Cancer Appeal, which is supported by Sarah's family, friends as well as Nicola, Cheryl, Kimberley and Nadine.
Speaking about the study before her death in comments shared exclusively with the PA Media news agency, Sarah, who was treated at the Christie cancer hospital in Manchester said: "Research is incredibly important in the fight against cancer. Although this research may not be in time to help me, this project is incredibly close to my heart as it may help women like me in the future."
While on GMB, Nicola also became emotional as she spoke about the grieving process. "Everybody deals with grief in different ways..." she said. Some people deal with it head on. For me, it's still not really that real. A lot of the time I'm like 'she's in Thailand on the beach' or she's in Ibiza with her friends. Then I'm reminded that she's not."
Ben stepped in to support Nicola as she became tearful and tried to hold her emotions in so she could talk on the programme and said: "You think of her in those places that she loved with her friends partying. The crazy, spontaneous, bundle of joy and energy every time that we met her."
And those tuning in to watch also flooded social media with their support. @EklundElek said: "Well done Nicola for getting through your interview. I could see it was hard for you, understandably, talking about Sarah. She will be so proud of you and everyone else too @NicolaRoberts #GMB @GMB."
@SallyPrice4 shared: "Much love and respect to Sarah"s Legacy. Nicola is getting emotional. So sad. God Love her Xxxxx #gmb #CancerResearch #BreastCancer." @avraam2000 added: "Well done Sarah's Legacy £1m raised. Such important research for cancer in young women who don't have a family history #SarahHarding #GMB."
