BBC Sports presenter Emma Jones has announced she has to stand down from her job due to long-term health issues.
The football pundit, 33, began her career with Leeds TV in 2017 before moving on to work at BBC Radio 5 Live, the Netball Nation Podcast and she with the BBC at the 2018 World Cup.
She regularly seen on MOTDx, but Emma has now said she needs to take some time off to focus on getting ‘back to full health’.
Sharing an update to her fans on social media, Emma didn’t give details of her illness but said it had left her struggling to work.
‘My health hasn’t been in a great place for quite some time now and I’ve spent more time in hospital than my own home,’ she posted on X.
‘I’m taking time away from work/life to focus on getting back to full strength. I’ll be back soon.’
She was quickly flooded with messages of support from fans and colleagues.
‘Get well soon EJ, health is the most important thing. Wishing you a speedy recovery so we can enjoy your punditry again,’ user Jamie commented on her post.
‘Wishing you a speedy recovery, Emma,’ Joe shared.
‘Sorry to hear you’ve been having a hard time if it, wishing you a speedy recovery, take care,’ Philip added.
Emma’s Instagram profile, which has attracted more than 400,000 followers, shows off her glamorous life as a football presenter.
However, in July last year she shared with fans that she’d faced an ‘uncomfortable’ situation when she was repeatedly approached by a man each day while she walked her puppy Teddy.
The presenter said he’d asked to take photos with her and had also made requests that were too vile to post online.
She then decided to share the story on social media to raise awareness of this type of behaviour that ‘makes women and girls feel uncomfortable’.
‘I would urge anyone who sees what looks like an uncomfortable interaction to not just ignore it and walk past,’ she posted on X.
‘You don’t always have to intervene, but even just having the presence of someone else nearby can be reassuring.’
Earlier this year Emma also revealed she’d discovered she had been impersonated on an X-rated dating site and her pictures were being used on someone else’s profile.
She quickly shut down speculation it was her profile and joked she had no desire to Google the name of the racy dating website.
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