The 50-year-old discovered a lump during a routine mammogram three weeks ago.

She immediately underwent an operation to remove the growth and will be absent from her Channel Five TV show Trisha for two weeks.

The star's husband Peter Gianfrancesco said: "She may possibly need, or choose to have, chemotherapy.

“We are both stressed and exhausted from the stress and worry, but are trying to deal with this one step at a time.”

The confessional TV star is said to be recovering at home in Norfolk with Peter and her two children Billie, 18, and Madison, 13.

Plans to promote her autobiography, Trisha, As I Am, have been postponed while she recovers from the operation.