A Personal Journey with Endometriosis
Emma Barnett, a well-known broadcaster, was diagnosed with endometriosis 10 years ago, just three months before starting her career at the BBC. Since then, she has faced significant challenges due to this condition. Now, she has created the first British TV documentary entirely focused on endometriosis, a condition that affects approximately one in ten women of reproductive age globally.
‘I don’t think people even know how to spell it still,’ Emma admitted. In her hour-long programme, Emma Barnett: Fighting Endometriosis, she brings attention to the illness by speaking with women who are dealing with it, consulting specialists, and questioning former health secretary Wes Streeting.
Emma also shares her personal journey through self-recorded videos where she openly discusses her pain as it occurs. These videos have been crucial in holding her accountable for her experiences. ‘I regularly airbrush my own life to myself, where I say: “That day was fine.” And actually now I’ve seen a video, I’m like: “Your birthday was a bit ropey, to say the least.”’
The documentary highlights the severe impact this condition can have on women’s lives. For example, in her mid-twenties, 26-year-old Chloe had to make a life-changing decision about whether or not to have children because of the intense pain she experienced. Emma, who struggled with fertility herself, was deeply moved by Chloe’s story. She said: ‘Often I meet women whose fertility has been affected, and hers will be if she manages to go through with a hysterectomy. But what she decided was even more extreme than that – she couldn’t even consider having children, because she wouldn’t be well enough to look after them.’
Endometriosis is described by Emma as a thief that steals from women. ‘It might not be a life-threatening condition in the way that we see things like cancer, but it is a living death for many, many women, and it’s a slow one.’
Despite the excruciating pain she sometimes experiences, Emma manages to maintain her professional demeanor at work. The 41-year-old presents on BBC Radio 4’s Today and previously hosted Woman’s Hour for three years. She quit the latter in 2024 and recalls a time when she blacked out during a live broadcast yet managed to produce an hour-long show. ‘There was a 75th anniversary of Woman’s Hour… and my producer at the time looked at me just before we were about to go live. And I think she thought: “Is she okay?” I cannot remember a single thing about that programme.’
Emma attributes her ability to cope with the condition to a dark sense of humor, which she believes helps her colleagues, friends, and family deal with the illness. ‘I think that helps,’ she said. While her ability to laugh during difficult times is one way of managing the disease, her anger has driven her to create this documentary and seek answers from those in power.
She stated: ‘My anger in this film even shocked me when I watched it back. I am enraged and I am a woman who does have a difficult part of this condition. It’s got worse as I’ve got older, but I am able to work. Lots of women are not.’
In an interview with Streeting, Emma asked why there is no specific endometriosis pathway once women are diagnosed. He responded: ‘Well, there should be, I think, is the simple answer to that.’ Emma laughed in disbelief, saying: ‘Well you’re the Health Secretary!’
As the documentary concludes, Emma talks about wanting her womb removed due to the daily pain she experiences. On considering a hysterectomy, she reflected: ‘It’s a bit of life imitating art, if I could put it like that. I didn’t expect it to be how it had become, and I’m still seeking medical advice on that. But I didn’t want to not be honest either. I wanted to say this is a very real thing for me as well at the moment.’
Emma Barnett: Fighting Endometriosis is available to watch on BBC iPlayer.
