Lorraine Kelly has opened up about being told not to come back to her job on TV, describing the experience as "frightening". The 65-year-old presenter, who recently underwent preventative surgery, is taking a break from her current show to recover.

In a recent episode of Dr Hilary Jones' podcast, Lorraine opened up about a challenging period in her career when she was told not to return to work after having her daughter. She recalled: "I had just been told not to come back to work when [my daughter] was... She was born in June and I was supposed to go back to work in September."

Lorraine explained that as a freelancer, she didn't have the luxury of maternity leave and was expected to return to work immediately. However, just before the end of August, she received a call informing her that her contract wouldn't be renewed, with Anthea Turner taking her place on GMTV alongside Eamonn Holmes.

Lorraine said: "I thought 'Oh my God, what am I going to do?' I had a massive mortgage, tiny baby, Steve was working all hours of the day. It was scary, it was really frightening. Anyone who loses a job knows how scary that is, especially when you're freelance."

Lorraine went on to say that after she got the boot from GMTV, she hit the ground running by offering a "VHS of my best bits" to various TV stations in search of a new role.

Luckily for her, GMTV got back in touch to offer her a "mum and baby slot”. It went down so well with viewers that she was eventually given her own show.

Dr Hilary shared a snippet from his recent video podcast on Instagram, saying: "Swapping seats with Lorraine. Following the news of her preventative surgery, in my latest episode of The Dr Hilary Show, I caught up with close friend and national treasure @lorrainekellysmith".