Andi: Racism was so rife at school it made me ill
TV chef reveals impact of daily slurs
TV chef Andi Oliver has told how she suffered a nervous breakdown after facing racial slurs on a daily basis when she was growing up.
The Great British Menu presenter said boys in the school playground used offensive language, girls tried to beat her up and a teacher used to refer to her as “you people”.
The abuse also contributed to an eating disorder in her 20s.
Andi said: “Racism was rife. I was the only black girl in a very big school. It was like running the gauntlet every day.
“I had a teacher that used to call me ‘you people’, telling me I was not good enough. It was a battle to not be completely depressed and locked in my room.”
Andi, who grew up in Suffolk in the 1970s after her family migrated from the Caribbean, hid the abuse from her parents.
She told Kaye Adams’ How to be 60 podcast: “I didn’t want them to know how unhappy I was, that I was going through this horrible sh**, I didn’t want them to be distressed by it. I’ve spoken to my mum about it now, she had no idea it was as bad as it was, that I was getting girls try to beat me up and being called n***** every five minutes by a gang of nasty boys trying to corner me in the playground.” Andi, 60, carved out a successful career in TV and radio, but said the abuse damaged her as a young adult. She said: “My brother died when I was 25 and I developed a very serious eating disorder.
“Losing him was the final straw. But going under really saved my life. If I hadn’t had a nervous breakdown, I would still be trying to make out everything was OK. “I could barely be around other humans without having panic attacks. “I had my daughter Miquita when I was 20 and she went to stay with my mum in Suffolk, because I wasn’t OK. Having a nervous breakdown meant I could admit to somebody that I was not OK. That was when I started therapy.”