While an earlier diagnosis would've meant she might be able to conceive with the help of drugs, Perkins admitted she put it off, because of what having children meant.

"Sometimes I get into the mindset that being heterosexual is a brave new world, because you can conceive, and you work out the rest of it once you’re pregnant.

"For me, it just felt like I was sitting there with a pencil going, ‘what’s the best way to have a daddy? What’s the best way to have two mummies?’ And it just felt like I just had a f****** pencil in my hand, and this isn’t the way to start being a mother, and that’s what was really painful," she wrote.

Sue Perkins' memoir Spectacles is out 8 October and is available to pre-order now.

Images: BBC Pictures, Rex Features

Presenter Sue Perkins told being infertile would be 'easier' because she's a lesbian