Lisa Wilkinson: "I know how guilty I have been feeling. I felt like a fraud"

Last week, Lisa Wilkinson told Australia that she felt “like a fraud”.

After working as an ambassador for National Breast Cancer Foundation for almost 10 years, the 53-year-old Today host revealed that she was well overdue for a mammogram.

“I know how guilty I have been feeling. I felt like a fraud,” Lisa Wilkinson said. “I have been telling women for years that they have to go out and be breast aware and I haven’t been. “Three years ago I had my last one. I do regular hand checks but you have to have a mammogram to make sure you’re really covering it off.”

So this morning on Today, Lisa and her 48-year-old co-host Georgie Gardner both had a mammogram – live on air.

Wilkinson decided to have the mammogram after hearing the story of Amy Robach – a Good Morning America host who had a mammogram on air only to discover she had breast cancer.  After hearing the news of Robach, who had a double mastectomy in the wake of her diagnosis, Wilkinson tweeted:

The story that has inspired me to stop procrastinating & have a mammogram live on @thetodayshowhttp://t.co/B6VGtlbJG2#today9@NBCFAus

— Lisa Wilkinson (@Lisa_Wilkinson) November 13, 2013

According to the Breast Screen Australia website, free mammograms are offered to women over the age of 40 – but not recommended to people under the age of 40. They suggest women aged 50-69 have mammograms every two years to detect breast cancer early.