Ricky Gervais’ long-term partner Jane Fallon undergoes surgery after breast cancer diagnosis

Bestselling author and Ricky Gervais’ long-term partner Jane Fallon has undergone surgery nearly two weeks after publicly sharing her breast cancer diagnosis. The 65-year-old, who was diagnosed around last month, shared a candid recovery update just hours after going under the knife on 23 March.

“Big day. I had my op this morning. I’m feeling remarkably fine (which is possibly the drugs, and they might also explain why I’m cross eyed in photo 5),” Jane shared on Instagram alongside pictures of her in a hospital bed and recuperating at home. The author took a mirror selfie wearing a robe with an ink markup visible on her chest ahead of the operation. 

Jane assured that the surgery “all went very well, apparently” and she celebrated with a well-earned cup of tea, reading fellow author Catherine Steadman’s new book, and the company of her rescue cat Pickles, whom she and Ricky adopted around 2020. 

“I’m held together with superglue* and dissolving stitches,” Jane said, adding an asterisk at the end to clarify that it was “probably not superglue”. 

“The popsox have to stay on for 48 hours, so I’m going to style them out as a new trend. Now I just have to wait 8-10 days for confirmation that they’ve got it all and the margins are clear (small % chance of more surgery) and work out how to stop Pickle trampling over my incision. She was on me within 30 seconds of my getting home,” she said of the cat, whom she dubbed the “best nurse ever”. 

The author thanked everyone for the “lovely messages” she’d received since sharing her diagnosis earlier in the month. “I’ve honestly been blown away and I’m reading every single one of them even if I’m not quite keeping up with replying,” she told her over 43 thousand followers. 

© Instagram/ @janefallon2

Jane shares her diagnosis 

The 65-year-old revealed she was diagnosed with breast cancer around a month before she publicly shared the news on 12 March. Jane said it was “very early stage thankfully and the prognosis is excellent,” after she had a routine mammogram just before Christmas. 

“I had no symptoms but the brilliant radiographer spotted something iffy and sent me for further tests and eventually a biopsy. Since then I’ve had more mammograms, more biopsies and an MRI so they can pinpoint the problem area precisely,” she added. 

Jane admitted her health journey had “been a lot” and her surgery was scheduled for later in the month. 

Jane’s been with Ricky for decades

© Getty

Jane appeared to be in recovery mode at her and Ricky’s home after her major surgery. While they’ve never married, Jane and Ricky have been together for more than four decades after first meeting in 1982 when they were students at University College London, and moved in together in London a couple of years later.

The pair have never had kids together, with Jane opening up about the decision on HELLO!’s Second Act podcast in January. 

“When I was little, you know how the kind of cliché for little girls is they imagine their wedding day in their wedding dress. I had none of that, ever.  I would think – I can get a dog or something one day, but it was always about work. And my life and the flat I would live in. I was never into the romance stuff,” she said. 

“As I got older, I just realised it wasn’t for me. And I think part of it is I’m a real catastrophiser. I would stifle the life out of my kids. I can’t even let my cat out. I just find it really hard,” she added, explaining she “thought I’ll be a better auntie and kind of auntie to my friends’ kids than being a mother’.