‘It’s difficult’ says James Martin as he reveals secret off-camera health battle
JAMES Martin has opened up about a secret off-camera battle that he finds “really difficult”.
The 52-year-old has had a TV career spanning more than 30 years, including Saturday Kitchen and James Martin‘s Saturday Morning.
But the TV chef has admitted that he still finds presenting on camera extremely hard.
The admission is something his fans will find surprising considering his natural presenting style on screen.
During a recent appearance on Kaye Adams‘ BBC Radio Scotland show, James was praised for his multi-tasking abilities during his programmes.
Kaye compared his knack for cooking and speaking to guests as being like choreography, but James was quick to return her praise.
He said: “I’m watching you do your thing while I’m listening to music play and you’re like a conductor.
“I can’t do what you do and I certainly can’t when I’ve been on Loose Women with you as well.
“I certainly admire anyone who’s able to do that.”
He continued: “Weirdly I can cook and talk at the same time but presenting I still find really difficult.
“I’m severely dyslexic so reading anything off an autocue is really hard work, so if I’m allowed to cook and chat that’s where I feel at home.”
Dyslexia is a learning difficulty that affects how the brain processes language, and can make it difficult to read, write, and spell to varying degrees.
James previously revealed he wasn’t diagnosed with the condition until he was 30.
And during one of his show’s earlier this year, he explained a bit more about how he works around his dyslexia.
He said: “I have this amazing woman called Sam, Sam [on the] autocue, who puts stuff on bigger type for me so that I can properly read it.”
Earlier this year, James also discussed undergoing surgery to remove facial cancer after he was first diagnosed in 2018.
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Appearing on Lorraine in April, he said: “As you know, the last time I was on, I was in the middle of operations.
“But as we speak, the stitches are falling out of my body at the moment.
“So yeah, that’s all clear – onwards and upwards!”