Gail Porter has opened up about the “scary” period of her life when she was homeless and forced to sleep on a park bench.
The Scottish TV presenter and former glamour girl was left penniless and without a home after her TV career dried up in the noughties.
Gail, 51, had shot to fame in the 1990s after presenting CITV and Top of the Pops, and at the height of her fame had her nude shoot for FHM was projected onto the Houses of Parliament.
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But sadly, she started getting less opportunities after being diagnosed with alopecia as she refused to wear a wig.
(Image: ITV)
Things got so desperate at one point that the former children’s TV presenter had to sleep on a park bench in Hampstead Heath in London.
Gail spoke about her homelessness during a chat on Tuesday’s (November 15) edition of Good Morning Britian with hosts Susanna Reid and Richard Madeley.
Porter explained how she would move around in search of a bed and use spare rooms when she could.
(Image: Getty Images)
She said: “I did sleep at Hampstead Heath which was a bit scary. I was on the bench. My friends, don’t get me wrong, were absolutely brilliant, but they all have families and things, so I was sort of going from place to place.
“Spare rooms, they’d taken some of my bits and pieces, and I just wish I’d known more about Centrepoint when I was homeless.”
(Image: PA)
Gail appeared on the show to promote homeless charity Centrepoint, which she has done lots of work with in the past.
Asked by Richard how she dealt with the jarring shift from TV fame to homelessness, Gail replied: “Well it wasn’t easy at all. My hair falling out, my mum had passed away, everything was going wrong.
“Everything was getting worse and worse and worse and the work wasn’t coming in.”
(Image: ITV)
Gail lost her mum to breast cancer in 2009 and became homeless whilst going through a divorce with Toploader guitarist Dan Hipgrave.
She then insisted that she wasn’t going to wear a wig and that the one time she did, she didn’t like it as it was “itchy”.
You can donate to Centrepoint following the link here.
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
