Bankrupt star Gail: Help kids to manage their cash
DESPITE a showbusiness career that included Top of the Pops, Live & Kicking, Celebrity Big Brother and lads’ magazine shoots, Gail Porter was this year declared bankrupt.
Now the Scottish television presenter has called for schoolchildren to be taught how to manage money to stop them falling into debt as she did.
The 46-year-old felt so ‘embarrassed’ about her financial troubles she forced herself to spend several nights on a park bench in North London.
Edinburgh-born Miss Porter said she had never received any advice on how to handle money and is campaigning for it to become part of the school curriculum.
She said: ‘I definitely think there should be something in schools, it would help.
‘When I left school and went into further education, suddenly you have bills and you don’t get taught anything about that at school.
‘It’s important. It’s great to do English and drama and all these wonderful things we did at school but when it comes to paying bills or putting money aside I didn’t have a clue.
‘I was working at B&Q and I would come home and think, “Oh my God I’ve made £3.50 an hour”. I would just spend it and not think I should maybe save it. We didn’t really talk about money much at home.’
Miss Porter has struggled financially since 2007 and admitted that three years ago she was left without a roof over her head. She lost her hair to alopecia, which she blames for damaging her career.
The mother of one was left penniless and her bankruptcy was confirmed in January after she owed a six-figure sum in tax arrears and could not pay her electricity and gas bills.
She is now working as an ambassador for insolvency firm Creditfix, which helped her through her money woes.
Miss Porter disclosed that she hit rock bottom this year when a bailiff arrived at her rented flat to seize belongings to pay off her debts.
She said: ‘I used to put my bills under the bed and pay whatever I could. A big moment for me was when I got a phone call from a bailiff. I knew I owed money but I don’t have credit cards and I’m not a big spender. It was a case of my bills getting out of control.
‘At the time, I was struggling to get work and I’d even said to a few friends, I’ll work in your office. They laughed it off, but I was serious. At this point, I was desperate and just wanted to start earning money. One of the worst things was that each time I could not pay a bill, they would add on a fee. I used to think, well if I can’t afford the first bill, how am I supposed to pay a more expensive one?’
Miss Porter, who has a teenage daughter, Honey, by Toploader guitarist Dan Hipgrave, has said she now gets by on £200 a month. She has battled depression and an eating disorder, and her marriage to Hipgrave ended in divorce.
Her circumstances are a far cry from the day when her naked image was projected on to the Houses of Parliament as a promotion for men’s magazine FHM’s poll to find the world’s 100 sexiest women.
Miss Porter starred in Celebrity Big Brother in 2015, which she described as ‘worse than being sectioned’, in reference to a 17-day stint in a psychiatric unit following a breakdown in 2011.
The presenter has previously described her past difficulties to the Daily Mail as ‘stupid’, and ‘unbelievably selfish’.
Asked what advice she would give to young girls who self-harm, she said: ‘Don’t do it,’ and showed tattoos she has had done to cover up the scars.
‘I was desperate to earn money’