Martin Roberts illness: what happened to Homes Under the Hammer presenter, how old is he and who is his wife

Martin Roberts has revealed he had a terrifying health scare when he was rushed to hospital with chest pains last month.

The 58-year-old presenter was having breathing problems but thought he was experiencing long Covid symptoms, before finding out he was suffering from fluid around the heart.

The Homes Under The Hammer frontman appeared on today’s This Morning with his wife Kirsty, to speak about how he nearly died, and to provide an update on how this has changed his future plans.

Here is everything you need to know.

Who is Martin Roberts?

The Warrington presenter is known for hosting a wide range of lifestyle, travel and property shows on UK radio and TV.

Roberts has been a part of BBC One’s property auction show ‘Homes Under The Hammer’ for 17 years and is now approaching its 25th series.

He has appeared on many TV programmes such as I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here, The Chase and Celebrity Masterchef, as well as featuring on BBC radio shows.

Martin has been married to Kirsty Roberts since 2010 and has one son named Scott.

What illness did Martin Roberts have?

About a month ago Martin started suffering from severe chest pains but assumed he was experiencing long Covid symptoms.

Martin has suffered from asthma since he was young and had chest infections recently, so was used to a tight chest.

But as the Easter bank holiday arrived, Martin’s breathing problems worsened and the presenter was rushed to A&E to find he was “hours away from death”.

Martin was diagnosed with pericardial effusion, which is the buildup of fluid around the heart that clogs up the surrounding structure, and had to undergo heart surgery as the fluid had caused organ failure.

Some cases can be cured with medication but more severe cases have to be solved by surgery to drain the excess fluid.

What did Martin Roberts say about illness?

Appearing on ITV’s This Morning with his wife Kirsty, Martin explained the condition further.

“There’s a sack around your heart and it was filling with fluid…that in turn is something called a tapenade, which basically means this sack is squeezing the heart it sits around, so the heart isn’t able to expand, and therefore isn’t able to pump, so it means all of your organs start failing,” he told Philip Schofield and Rochelle Humes.

“The confusing thing about this [his symptoms], it’s a bit of a red herring, is that it gets you in the breathing side of things, so you don’t think it’s something to do with your heart.”

Martin revealed he was minutes away from death.

“By the time they [the doctors] got to me, my kidneys were at 30 per cent, my liver was at 30 per cent, my lungs weren’t getting any oxygen, and at any time I could have had a heart attack…the heart would have been strangled by itself.

“You put your hands in the professionals…I am lying there in this special operating theatre and there’s a local anaesthetic. I’m watching as they stick a tube into the side of my heart and with a big syringe, he starts pulling this dark red/black liquid which is almost,  I call death juice.”

Martin’s wife Kirsty said that it is a bit of a ‘watershed moment’:

“And I said, you are just going to have to say no…we both have, and we have lived life at 100mph and very rarely get to stop and smell the roses as Martin would say.

“Times like this, you realise what’s important in life. And there’s going to have to be a readjustment.”

What’s next for Martin Roberts?

When asked about the future for the Homes Under The Hammer, Martin hoped he could resume filming in the coming weeks.

“I’ve got to get to 20 years,” he said. “Hopefully I’ll get some nicer properties and they’ll cherry pick the good ones, rather than the really bad ones.”