SHE might be a well known face of sport but Kirsty Gallacher said that having coronavirus caused her to have ‘horrific’ sickness and shortness of breath that left her ‘struggling to do anything‘.
The glamorous Edinburgh born former Sky Sports presenter and model claims she was struck down by Covid 19 during the early stages of lockdown and said she was hit by loneliness and major anxiety during it.
Kirsty, 44, who has been spending lockdown in the middle of the countryside in her new £1.4 million home in Berkshire and has had her sons Oscar, 13 and Jude, 10 living with her for only part of it - after sharing time with their father - admitted she had been really unwell.
The brunette beauty who now hosts a variety of sporting events including Soccer Aid said: “I actually had coronavirus quite badly just before lockdown. I had it over that period. I didn’t feel normal for about a month at the start of it. I was very unwell. I completely empathise with people who have had all different strains of it and things go on. I had the whole lot. It was awful. I had the breathing thing which I thought was anxiety because of the lockdown situation. I was full on working the week before lockdown and at the time I didn’t know had it. All these symptoms were not actually really documented until weeks later - like loss of sense of smell and taste and sickness and all those nice pleasant things .”
Kirsty whose father is the former Ryder cup captain Bernard Gallacher split from her husband rugby star Paul Samson in 2014. She had visited Edinburgh in the days before lockdown for a promotion with Gavin Hastings.
The glamorous Edinburgh born former Sky Sports presenter and model claims she was struck down by Covid 19 during the early stages of lockdown and said she was hit by loneliness and major anxiety during it.
Kirsty, 44, who has been spending lockdown in the middle of the countryside in her new £1.4 million home in Berkshire and has had her sons Oscar, 13 and Jude, 10 living with her for only part of it - after sharing time with their father - admitted she had been really unwell.
The brunette beauty who now hosts a variety of sporting events including Soccer Aid said: “I actually had coronavirus quite badly just before lockdown. I had it over that period. I didn’t feel normal for about a month at the start of it. I was very unwell. I completely empathise with people who have had all different strains of it and things go on. I had the whole lot. It was awful. I had the breathing thing which I thought was anxiety because of the lockdown situation. I was full on working the week before lockdown and at the time I didn’t know had it. All these symptoms were not actually really documented until weeks later - like loss of sense of smell and taste and sickness and all those nice pleasant things .”
Kirsty whose father is the former Ryder cup captain Bernard Gallacher split from her husband rugby star Paul Samson in 2014. She had visited Edinburgh in the days before lockdown for a promotion with Gavin Hastings.
The presenter who takes her fitness and well being seriously, and packs in three personal training sessions a week plus running and swimming on top of sustaining a well-balanced diet of fruit, vegetables, lean meat and fish, admitted that she had suffered anxiety during her illness.
She said: ”It’s been hard in many ways as well. I was on my own and that was when I felt the loneliness and was really unwell. I was not sure of what was going on and I had major anxiety. I had real trouble breathing. I didn’t go to hospital or anything. I controlled it. Coronavirus is a very strange virus is all I can say. Every day I had something different and new. The cough actually came last for me which was weird. The shortness of breath, I struggled just doing anything. having a walk was almost impossible, it really was.
Kirsty who has tried to get her fitness levels back throughout lockdown with a variety of exercises and took part in Wheels For Heroes on Sky Sports this week said: “It was dreadful and the sickness was horrific. I’m trying to get back to normal and it’s really hard.”
Now that she is feeling a bit better Kirsty claims she has been enjoying wearing little to no make up during lockdown.
She said: “I am low maintenance. One thing about lockdown I’ve been loving is having no make up. I was on Good Morning Britain and had to put on some and almost forgot how to do it. I’ve been loving not having to do it and it’s been lovely having a rest from it. On TV you end up wearing so much and on TV with high definition you have to have it trowelled on.”
