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Amanda de Cadenet says the British press have 'zero accountabilty'

Amanda de Cadenet poses at the premiere of the film
Amanda de Cadenet at the opening night of the 2018 AFI Fest in Los Angeles. (Invision/AP)

Amanda de Cadenet says she 'doesn't know if she'd be alive today' if she had remained living in the UK because of the way the tabloid media 'bullies' famous women.

The broadcaster and interviewer, who in the 1990s became famous as a teenager when she fronted the controversial late-night Channel 4 show, The Word, moved to LA at 19 with her then husband, Duran Duran's John Taylor.

Speaking to Kate Thornton on White Wine Question Time, de Cadenet slammed the British press for still having 'zero accountability' and said she couldn't believe that in 2022 there was not more in place to protect people.

She said: "The way that the British press speaks about women, the way that the British press bullies people, and decides what the narrative is about people, is still in full effect.

"The impact of tabloid media on women who become famous, for whatever reason, is extremely detrimental."

WATCH: Amanda de Cadenet on hosting The Word and being in the tabloids as a teenager

De Cadenet explained that her decision to leave the country, at a time when she was portrayed as a 'wild child' and was pregnant with her and Taylor's baby, was because of the 'viciousness' of the tabloid media.

"I think had I stayed in the UK, I don't know that I'd be alive today," she told Thornton. "I think it was very, very damaging for my mental health. I know it was and that's why I had to leave."

She has lived in LA ever since, having worked as a photographer and now hosting a series of interviews called The Conversation which has included guests ranging from Hillary Clinton to Lady Gaga.

Moving to the US, she said she found it a 'relief' to no longer be a famous person.

Listen to the full episode to hear Amanda talk about building her own path throughout her career, how she got the job presenting on The Word and her most important conversations

"I couldn't wait to get to America," she said, "where nobody knew me. Where I could be anonymous and walk down the street and not have to worry.

"It took me years to not have to look over my shoulder, it took me years to drop that. And it was such a relief."

She added that the 'trauma' she had experienced at the hands of the tabloid media, as 'an entire organisation' was what led to her deciding to leave the country, distinguishing between mini traumas and 'big T traumas'.

Courtney Love and Amanda De Cadenet (Photo by Terry McGinnis/WireImage)
Courtney Love and Amanda De Cadenet (WireImage)

Read more: How Amanda de Cadenet became one of the most influential feminists of our time

The 50-year-old said: "I had the mini T's every single day, punctuated by big traumas, when someone would sell a horrible story about me, or there would be some f****d up headline talking about how fat I was after I had given birth or whatever.

"And for me, that was continually being traumatised over and over and over again."

In a time before social media, de Cadenet also said she had no way of disputing anything that was written about her, in a situation she described as 'bullying'.

She said: "What that does is it creates a silencing and a muzzling, and a misconception about the reality, that becomes the truth for so many people.

Actor Keanu Reeves, who stars in the motion picture
Amanda De Cadenet with her then boyfriend Keanu Reeves at a Los Angeles premiere in 2001. (Reuters)

"And it is horrible, the level of shaming is profound. I see it continuing with other people, and it breaks my heart because I know exactly what it feels like."

Thornton asked if the show being 'designed to provoke' and the fact that the newspapers labelled de Cadenet a 'wild child' gave her permission to do 'whatever the hell' she liked.

Saying it was a 'very odd' experience, going from being like a school girl to presenting The Word within six months de Cadenet said the 'unusual and bizarre situation' took years for her to integrate.

WATCH: Amanda de Cadenet on her most important conversations, calling out companies who don't support women, and hosting Channel 4's The Word as a teenager