ER actor Alex Kingston ignored subtle cancer symptom years before medical emergency on stage

Warning: This article contains discussion of cancer which some readers may find distressing.

Alex Kingston, best known for playing the whip-smart Dr Elizabeth Corday in ER and the mysterious River Song in Doctor Who, has opened up about a terrifying health scare that's changed her outlook on life.

The 62-year-old actor, now dazzling audiences on the UK's Strictly Come Dancing, revealed that just over a year ago, she suffered a shocking health emergency mid-performance.

While on stage at the Chichester Festival Theatre in 2024, Kingston suddenly began to hemorrhage during a live show.

In true theatre fashion, she didn’t break character, but it was no less alarming. In an interview with The Independent, she said: “That night on stage, I hemorrhaged… that was really shocking.”

Wearing a large Tudor-style costume and knee pads at the time, Kingston managed to improvise through the crisis.

Alex Kingston continued performing despite a sudden onstage hemorrhage (Gerardo Mora/Getty Images)

“I just knocked my knees together and prayed that it would soak everything up,” she recalled, before adding: “I ran off stage and said, ‘Grab me some pads!’ We shoved some pads in my pants and I went back on stage and carried on. That was how we finished the show.”

It wasn’t until weeks later that she discovered the frightening truth that her body had been warning her for years.

For a long time, Kingston had brushed off the subtle symptoms of bloating, achiness, and fatigue as just part of getting older.

She explained: “I had assumed that the way I was feeling was old age, and I just sort of accepted it… I thought, ‘OK, this is what it’s like to be in my sixties.’ But a lot of how I was feeling was to do with my illness.”

After noticing blood in her urine, Kingston finally went to the doctor. However, even then, she didn’t imagine the worst.

The star admitted: “I never went down the cancer road in my head… It was a shock, because I have a very positive outlook on life in general. Even though my body was telling me there was something very seriously wrong, I kept thinking, ‘Oh, I’ve got a bad UTI or fibroids.’”

Doctors later diagnosed Kingston with cancer in her fallopian tubes: a form of uterine cancer that, fortunately, had not yet spread to her ovaries.

After life-saving treatment, Kingston now champions awareness of subtle cancer symptoms (Mike Coppola/Getty Images)

She underwent a hysterectomy and radiation therapy, completing treatment toward the end of last year.

Kingston said: “Your body does try to warn you… It just depends on whether you can read the warning signs.”

Now back on her feet and taking on the intense Strictly Come Dancing schedule, Kingston says she feels like herself again - and has a new outlook on life.

She shared: “Despite having gone through all of that, the minute I had the operation, I suddenly felt like myself again… I hadn’t felt like that for years.”

Reflecting on her ordeal, the actor has urged others not to ignore persistent symptoms.

“Womb cancer is really tricky because it is so sneaky,” Kingston said. “What I would say is, the body does know - and that was the body saying to me, ‘Help! There’s something really wrong.’ It’s so important to seek advice and have a check-up.”

If you’ve been affected by any of these issues and want to speak to someone in confidence, contact the American Cancer Society on 1-800-227-2345 or via their live chat feature, available 24/7 every day of the year.