'They threatened to kill me': Andrea McLean reveals bullying horror

Loose Women star Andrea McLean bravely shared her story of school bullying that got so bad, her tormentors threatened to kill her.

The TV presenter was a guest on ITV’s Lorraine to promote Anti Bullying Week, and spoke about a tearful video she had recorded detailing her abuse while at school.

She said: “It happened when I was 16, 17, and I’ve put that away, put it in a box, but when I started talking about it, the emotions came flooding back.”

McLean explained that she had recently moved over to the UK from the Caribbean when it began, and believes it was prompted by her sticking up for another girl who was being picked on.

She shared a shocking low point of the experience: “They said to me, ‘that’s it now, it’s the last day of school, there are no rules now, we’re going to kill you’.”

But despite her harrowing time over trying to protect another pupil, McLean said it hadn’t put her off still sticking up for other victims of bullying.

She said: “You’d think my thought process would be, if you see someone being picked on walk away, it could happen to you again. Absolutely not, I’ll jump in feet first and help.

“It was a period of time of a couple of years, but I still look back on my school days fondly.”

Viewers were inspired by her story to share their own experiences.

McLean admitted she didn’t share her own bullying with family at the time, but urged other people to talk about what was happening to them.

She said: “I never told my parents because I was really worried my mum and dad would go storming the gates.

“Talk to someone, your parents, a sympathetic teacher.”

The Anti-Bullying Alliance runs Anti-Bullying Week from November 12 – 16 this year, with the 2018 campaign including the first-ever anti-cyber-bullying day on November 15.

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