Great British Bake Off co-host Sue Perkins has revealed that she has been living with prolactinoma, a non-cancerous tumour, after a diagnosis eight years ago.

Thankfully, the tumour is not life-threatening, though it has left the much-loved Bake Off star unable to have children and suffering from hormone fluctuations.

In classic Sue style, the comedian played down the news after going public with her condition, thanking fans for their “sweet tweets” and urging them to “focus on those less fortunate in the world”.

Aside from her classy response, here are 5 other reasons we love Sue.

1. Mel and Sue are a dream team

Sue Perkins and Mel Giedroyc
Sue Perkins and Mel Giedroyc (Mark Bourdillon/BBC)

The presenting duo are just great together. Sue met Mel Giedroyc when they were both at Cambridge doing amateur comedy in the Footlights, and the two immediately hit it off. They worked together on the Channel 4 shows Light Lunch and Late Lunch, and in 2010 they reunited for the show which would make them national icons: the Great British Bake Off.

“We just understand how the other feels without even having to say. It’s an honour and a pleasure to know her,” Sue told The Telegraph in 2013.

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The two share a cheeky sense of humour, speaking of which…

2. Sue is great at puns and innuendo

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“I’ve never eaten a nun before,” she says. or “Stop touching your dough balls”. Then there’s: “Keep your biscuits erect… you’ve got four hours to do so!”

Trust Sue to make the most of every baking pun imaginable, and deliver her one-liners with impeccable comic timing.

3. She can see a joke and run with it

If the camera gives you horns, laugh it off.

4. She really cares about the contestants

Sue Perkins with Ian on the Great British Bake Off
Sue Perkins with Ian on the Great British Bake Off (Mark Bourdillon/BBC)

Sue clearly takes her support role on the Bake Off very, very seriously. She can be seen offering comfort to sobbing contestants and calming down even the most stressed of amateur bakers.

The presenter was pretty sad about “bin-gate”, where a Baked Alaska ended up in the bin and elderly contestant Diana was accused of sabotage, because – she said – the incident was blown upsettingly out of proportion. “Most of our work isn’t done on camera – it’s pastoral care, all about trying to make people look good. So it’s a bit painful when that’s undermined,” she explained to The Guardian.

Also, when she broke part of Nadiya’s biscuit show-stopper, Sue was clearly devastated at the pain she’d caused, ‘fessing up to the judges when Nadiya presented her bake.

5. She’s spoken out about mental health issues

Sue Perkins
Sue Perkins (Lauren Hurley/PA)

After a break-up from her girlfriend of eight years in 2010, Sue had therapy – and her openness about what she went through is inspiring.

“If you’d lost sensation down your left side, you’d see a doctor,” she told The Telegraph. “So when you’re desensitised through depression, or events in your life have been extremely painful, why shouldn’t you have some therapy?

“I think it makes you a better person and it affects your relationships with your family, your friends, your interpersonal and sexual relationships, too. My view is, ‘Go on, treat yourself and everyone who loves you to being a better and clearer person.’

“I’d tell anyone who is sad or confused to do it.”