Regrets? No, I’d still do the lads’ mags even though it made my brother cringe... but I would get cash up front
NAKED TRUTH GAIL PORTER ON ALOPECIA AND SLEEPING ROUGH
The TV presenter and model tells all about her rise to fame and the rough ride that led to homelessness and bankruptcy
IT’S fair to say that Gail Porter has lived her life. In fact, she has gone through enough to fill at least two lifetimes.
So much so that the former lads’ mag favourite, whose naked photo was projected on the Houses of Parliament by FHM, laughed when she revealed that the title she’s thinking of for the autobiography she’s writing is “Really?”
“One of my friends suggested it,” she said. And when you consider the incredible highs and lows of her life story, it makes sense.
This is a former model and TV presenter who ended up sleeping on a park bench when work dried up after she lost her hair to alopecia.
She married, had a daughter, suffered depression, got divorced, was sectioned, self-harmed, attempted suicide, was diagnosed as bipolar, suffered from anorexia, had a televised breast reduction and became bankrupt.
Plenty of material there for her second autobiography – her first, Laid Bare, was ghost written and she barely even read it. So, as she looks back at her life now, would she do anything differently?
She replied: “Save money. I’d still do the lads’ mags – I had a great a**e – but I’d ask for cash up front as I never got paid to do any of them.
“The FHM I was in was one of the biggest-selling, so there must have been a bit of money off my a**e.
“I was quite proud of myself. Those pictures weren’t filthy and I didn’t think they were offensive at all, though everybody else seemed to.
“Grandpa thought it was funny and bought a copy of the magazine, which was a bit weird.
“My brother was mortified because all his mates were buying magazines
featuring his big sister naked, which was not cool.”
Of the late-night stunt when a rear view of her naked was projected on to the Palace of Westminster and Big Ben, she said: “They had to get rid of my nipple because it was offensive.
“I wish John Prescott had popped his head out where my nipple was.”
She’s talking in the north London flat she has been renting since 2015 after her last notable TV appearance, as a contestant on Celebrity Big Brother. Before that, she was homeless and slept on a park bench.
“Everybody thinks I’m really depressed all the time,” she said. “They say, ‘It must be awful to have no hair…’
“My hair loss doesn’t mean anything to me. I’m quite happy with it.
“No hairdressers, no shampoo or conditioner, only two minutes in the shower every morning. I’ve got a good-shaped head, and a daughter who loves me, so it’s no problem.
“I’m like, ‘It’s been 12 years, can we talk about something else?’”
The anchor in her life is her 14-year-old daughter Honey, whose dad is Gail’s ex-husband, Dan Hipgrave of 90s band Toploader.
Gail, 46, said: “I know Honey is going to be completely stable. She’s such a nice girl, so clever and polite.
“She’s desperate to go to university. She’ll probably look at me and go, ‘I’m not going to be her.’”
Despite living in London for many years, Gail still adores her homeland.
She said: “I’m very proud of where I come from. When I fill in forms, I never say I’m from the UK, I put Scottish.”
Gail made her name on children’s TV shows such as Fully Booked and Live & Kicking, before hosting Top of the Pops, The Big Breakfast and Wish You Were Here.
During her presenting career, she interviewed many superstars, mainly for The Movie Chart Show.
“I went to Paris to interview Robert de Niro and Billy Crystal. I was really nervous because I love De Niro. He didn’t say much but I was still thrilled to meet him.
“John Travolta was difficult to interview. He was in an awful film and I couldn’t think of anything good to say about it.
“I had to sit for three minutes and think of nice things to say about the worst movie I’ve ever seen and stop staring at his hairline.”
Although Gail dated Keith Flint from The Prodigy and was married to Toploader’s Dan, she’s tried to avoid some of her music heroes.
She said: “I’ll never meet Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters because I love him in a weird stalker-type way, and every time Damon Albarn sees me he says, ‘You hid from me in the Top of the Pops toilets,’ and I did because I had a thing for him. “I introduced Blur, then waited in the loos til they left.” Demand for female TV presenters still tends to dwindle as they age but Gail has felt extra disadvantaged. She said: “When I lost my hair, it changed dramatically. If any programmes are discussing alopecia or, ‘What does it feel like to look different?’, I get a call. “I’ve still got the same brain and I’m still the same person, I just look different.” Gail loves to look at the funny side of life and recently took up stand-up comedy, although she won’t tell anyone where or when she’s performing. She said: “I’m doing it for myself until I stop being sick, because I get nervous. “I enjoy it and I’ve had a good reception so far. “When I did The Comedy Store, I went in, threw up, then did the gig and it went down really well. My stand-up is a lot about the hair and being Scottish and weird things that go on behind the scenes in TV.
“When I start off saying that I look like a massive baby with boobs, people don’t know where to look.”
Since her bankruptcy was declared in January, Gail has acted as brand ambassador – with ex-Celtic footballer John Hartson – for the insolvency firm Creditfix, and provides voiceovers for the RBS and sponsors of Scottish TV weather forecasts.
She said: “My brother in Edinburgh sometimes phones me and says, ‘Oh my God, it’s just constant’.
“I go, ‘Don’t you like the sound of your sister’s voice?’, and he says, ‘Not morning, afternoon and night-time.’”
As a regular panelist on Channel 5’s The Wright Stuff, she’s slowly getting back on her feet and is happy with life.
She said: “I’ve got a gorgeous daughter, I’ve not got much cash, but money’s not everything. One day I’ll run off and build a hut in Thailand or something… if I don’t go to Scotland.” ● www.gailporter.co.uk