Yahoo News Gail Porter gives emotional interview about her mental health struggles
Gail Porter gave a frank and brave interview on Lorraine today, opening up about her mental health struggles, being homeless, having her nude picture projected on to parliament and her new documentary.
“Now that I speak to my friends more often, because I kept a lot of things to myself, because I was too embarrassed to pick up the phone and say ‘Do you know what I’m in a bit of dire straits here’ it’s taken me a while to learn,” she told Lorraine Kelly.
The former presenter, 48, has just released her BBC Scotland documentary Being Gail Porter which recounts how her “celebrity fairytale became a nightmare”.
In 1999, she found herself in the middle of a media frenzy when her nude picture was projected onto the houses of parliament as part of a FHM magazine promotion.
Her photo was used without her knowledge and she told Lorraine: “I knew the picture was taken... I didn’t [know they were going to do that], I didn’t know I was going to be on the front cover. I didn’t get paid for it. I just saw it on the news.”
She added: “They actually, if they pay attention, they airbrush my nipple, because apparently it was offensive, not a hundred foot bottom going on there!”
She took the negative backlash personally and even apologised to her mum over something she had no control over.
“I didn’t know it was going to be that big or that massive. I was thinking it would be a wee picture in the middle of a magazine and that no one would see it. My mum phoned me up and said ‘What have you done’. I said, ‘Sorry’.”
The documentary was tricky for Gail, as she had to relive some of the traumatic experiences.
“It was much more tricky than I thought it was going to be… I learnt a lot and I felt better,” she said.
“I’m trying to get through emails and tweets and Instagram messages… there are just so many people it seems to have helped.”
“I have seen it once when I was doing the voiceover for it. And I did find it quite tricky. So I had to disappear a little bit and come back in and deal with it… I do cry an awful lot.”
Her relationship with her daughter Honey has strengthened since she watched the documentary, she revealed.
“She said she cried and I said, ‘What did you cry for?’ and she said, ‘You didn’t tell me everything’. We have got even stronger together, so I got lots of hugs. She’s great.”
Gail still maintains her fighting spirit, concluding: “As soon as I came in I said Lorraine is going to make me cry again… I’m still here. You can take the hair but you’re not going to take the girl!”
Being Gail Porter is available to watch on the BBC iPlayer now.
Like this article? Sign up to our newsletter to get more articles like this delivered straight to your inbox.
You Might Also Like
