EXCLUSIVE: Welcome to Wrexham star Maxine Hughes is turning the camera on her own cancer fight in a new documentary, as she tells Daily Star why showing the raw truth matters…
You may know her as the feisty Welsh translator from Disney+ series Welcome To Wrexham. But behind the scenes, Maxine Hughes has been facing a battle more intense than any football match.
When the broadcaster was told she had cancer, life shifted in an instant. For years she had been the one asking the questions. She had reported on other people’s heartbreak, illness and survival stories as part of her job. But suddenly the story was her own.
And instead of turning away from the camera, Maxine decided to have it all filmed for a powerful new documentary. Canser: Ar Ba Gost? – which means Cancer: At What Cost? – is out tomorrow (March 17) on BBC iPlayer and Welsh channel S4C.
It follows her journey through an aggressive form of breast cancer, capturing everything from gruelling treatment to her life-changing double mastectomy. “I’m a journalist, right?” she says. “So I’m always trying to persuade people to tell me their stories. But when it happens to you, suddenly you feel like you’re the story.”
The 43-year-old, who worked alongside Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney on Welcome To Wrexham, wanted to share the reality of what she was going through. She’s remained close to the stars throughout her treatment. “Rob and Ryan are fantastic,” she says. “Rob’s family have just been unbelievable. I don’t think I could have done it without the McElhennys.”
But her new film does not shy away from the difficult moments. Cameras were there through chemotherapy sessions and even inside the operating theatre. Maxine admits opening that door to viewers was intimidating, but she felt it was necessary.
“When you go online or on social media, it’s quite hard to find really raw stuff about cancer,” she says. “You have all these questions. What does surgery look like? What does it feel like? What are the scars going to look like? So I felt if I was going to do it, I had to do it in a really candid way and be really genuine and open about it.”
The documentary also explores the wider issue of cancer care in Wales. Now living in the United States, the Welsh-born TV personality found herself asking whether she would have got the same treatment back home.
Her cancer was triple negative, one of the most aggressive forms of the disease. “If I had to wait 62 days to get treatment, honestly it may have metastasised,” she says. “Once triple negative metastasises there’s nothing you can do. It really is a matter of life and death.”
Maxine endured 24 rounds of chemotherapy and immunotherapy as doctors worked to tackle the cancer. Losing her hair was especially distressing – but she handled it quietly, for the sake of her two young sons. “I didn’t want them to have this big cloud in their childhood,” she explains. “They never saw me without hair. I always either had my wig on or had a head covering. “I think keeping that to myself was something that helped me stay strong.”
Instead of withdrawing, she threw herself into family life and supporting her boys’ sporting passions. Iori, 12, is a competitive swimmer, while Manu, eight, does speed skating. She adds: “I found getting really involved with their sports really useful to keep my mind on other things.”
And even while undergoing treatment, Maxine kept working as much as she could. At times she was broadcasting while still hooked up to chemotherapy. “I found that very helpful,” she says. “It almost just felt like part of the job.”
Now that the treatment phase has ended, she says the physical toll is still very real. “I feel relieved to finish the treatment, but I feel more tired now than when I was going through the cancer,” she admits. “When you’re going through it, you’re running on adrenaline. But afterwards you get tired in a way you’ve never experienced before.”
She also experienced brain fog that made returning to live broadcasting a challenge. As a bilingual journalist who works daily in English and Welsh, it even affected her speech. “I’m starting off in one language and finishing the sentence in the other without realising,” she laughs.
Despite everything she has been through, Maxine now says cancer has changed her outlook on life in ways she never expected. “It affects everything,” she adds. “It affects your relationships. It affects the way you see life. It affects your ability to live every day in the way you used to.”
She hopes the documentary will leave viewers with a deeper understanding of the disease – and the urgency of improving cancer care. Her message to those watching is simple, but powerful. “We have to wake up to how serious this problem is,” she says. “It’s something we have to put at the forefront of healthcare and priorities.”
For Maxine, telling the truth about her own journey is a way of helping others face theirs. And if the documentary helps even one person feel less alone, she says, all that vulnerability will have been worth it.
· Watch Canser: Ar Ba Gost? from 9pm tomorrow (TUE) on BBC iPlayer and SC4.
Want all the biggest Showbiz and TV news straight to your inbox? Sign up for our free Daily Star Showbiz newsletter.