Shopaholic author Sophie Kinsella reveals aggressive brain cancer diagnosis

Author Sophie Kinsella has revealed she has been diagnosed with an aggressive form of brain cancer.

The novelist, 54, real name Madeleine Sophie Wickham, is best known for her bestselling Shopaholic book series.

She said she has been receiving chemotherapy and radiotherapy, writing on social media: “To my dear readers and followers. I’ve wanted for a long time to share with you a health update and I’ve been waiting for the strength to do so.

“At the end of 2022 I was diagnosed with glioblastoma, a form of aggressive brain cancer. I did not share this before because I wanted to make sure that my children were able to hear and process the news in privacy and adapt to our ‘new normal.’

“I have been under the care of the excellent team at University College Hospital in London and have had successful surgery and subsequent radiotherapy and chemotherapy, which is still ongoing.

“At the moment all is stable and I am feeling generally very well, though I get very tired and my memory is even worse than it was before!

“I am so grateful to my family and close friends who have been an incredible support to me, and to the wonderful doctors and nurses who have treated me. I am also so grateful to my readers for your constant support. The wonderful response to The Burnout has really buoyed me up, during a difficult time.

“To everyone who is suffering from cancer in any form I send love and best wishes, as well as to those who support them. It can feel very lonely and scary to have a tough diagnosis, and the support and care of those around you means more than words can say.

“I’ll be in touch soon, and in the meanwhile, greetings from sunny London.”

Kinsella’s latest book The Burnout was released in October 2023. Her other hit books include Can You Keep A Secret? and The Undomestic Goddess.

Her novels have sold more than 45 million copies in more than 60 countries, and have been translated into more than 40 languages.

The first two novels in her hit eight-book Shopaholic series, The Secret Dreamworld Of A Shopaholic and Shopaholic Abroad, were adapted into the film 2009 Confessions Of A Shopaholic, starring Isla Fisher.

Fisher commented on Kinsella’s Instagram post, writing: “Sending you so much love and healing energy.”

Kinsella shares four sons and a daughter with husband Henry Wickham.