Celebrity Big Brother star Luisa Zissman has shared that she’s in the hospital and is having trouble walking after breaking her back last year.
The 36-year-old, who gained fame on The Apprentice, explained that she got injured last year, but has only just realized how serious it is, causing her to miss a holiday to the Maldives while she recovers.
On her and Anna Williamson’s podcast 's LuAnna: The Podcast, Luisa said she 'can’t walk that well'.
Anna mentioned: 'She’s not in the Maldives, she’s in bed, where she has genuinely not moved for eight days. She’s broken her back.'
'I’ve been in bed for ages!' Luisa added, and then said: 'I’ve been in bed for eight days, I am feeling better.'
She continued: 'I’m not in as much pain anymore because I basically have really good meds, all prescribed, but I actually broke my back a year ago and I just didn’t realize it at the time.
'So when I had an MRI, so that isn’t what’s causing my pain but it doesn’t help my situation that you can still see this fractured thing, a fractured back.
'But basically, I’ve also got two discs bulging onto two nerves which weirdly is on the left-side but [It’s on] my whole right leg.
'I basically can’t walk that well because of the nerves in my leg – It feels like I’ve got a wooden leg. So I haven’t gone to the Maldives because I can’t fly.'
Luisa later took to Instagram to confirm that she’d returned home after two weeks of being bedbound, and said she ‘should have been in the Maldives’ with her kids.
The reality star, who finished as the runner-up on Lord Alan Sugar’s BBC One competition in 2013, before finishing fourth on Celebrity Big Brother the following year, previously spoke about having private healthcare and criticized NHS workers striking.
Speaking on the podcast in 2022, amid plans for strikes over pay and working conditions, Luisa said NHS staff should quit and ‘do something else’ rather than strike as they knew what they were getting into when they entered the profession.
'In this industry it’s completely irresponsible to strike and put people’s lives at risk, it’s unacceptable,' she angrily expressed.
'You have a child that’s waiting for a transplant and that kid doesn’t get that heart because of some f****** jumped-up t***s. '
She continued: 'When you went into that profession you haven’t gone in blind, you know what the pay is. So don’t go into it then!'
Luisa then considered 'maybe I don’t know enough about it,' before adding: 'It just annoys me, people striking in this type of career, I think it’s completely irresponsible, cruel and goes against everything they should do in that industry.'
She mentioned that she understands NHS personnel are under significant pressure and work extended hours, and she is unaware of their salaries, but she believes they deserve higher pay if their workload increases due to staffing issues.
Celebrity Big Brother can be seen on ITVX.
