Good Morning Britain host Ranvir Singh bravely opened up about being sexually assaulted aged just 12.
Ranvir is set to present a new documentary on the paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, which airs on ITV tonight (January 18), in which she speaks to Lisa Phillips – one of the young girls targeted by the late Epstein.
Ranvir also spoke about her experiences on GMB on Tuesday morning, with fans praising her for her courage on speaking out.
In the documentary, Ranvir said: “Speaking to Lisa brought up something that happened to me when I was 12.
“It happened once – and that person is dead – and so I have an understanding of what it’s like and why you would never want to speak of it again.”
(Image: ITV)
Speaking to co-hosts Richard Madeley and Susanna Reid on GMB, Ranvir admitted she had debated with herself whether or not to sign a release form to speak about the assault on the programme, confessing she signed it “at the last moment”.
The statement meant Ranvir waived her right to anonymity.
Susanna asked her: “That interview had an impact on you, didn’t it?”
As Ranvir replied: “It did, actually. Not one that I was predicting, it came as a complete surprise to me, actually – which I suppose speaks to some of the issues that were around in the Ghislaine trial about memory.”
(Image: ITV)
She added: “[Phillips] was describing it, and actually it was in an effort to comfort her, because often when we do this job I think people can think we’re just on telly to make people cry on telly, because it’s good telly.
“I’m being blunt about how people view journalists.
“And she’s on Zoom and I’m in the UK so I can’t physically comfort her in any way. And it was just an instant thing, I just felt quite a shocking sense of empathy with what she was describing.
“So I did say to her, ’Something happened to me when I was 12 and I understand, and you shouldn’t feel guilty about not…’”
(Image: ITV)
Ranvir was clearly getting emotional, as she apologised and said: “Do you know what, I’ve only ever told two people in my whole life. And in the last two weeks I’ve had to tell family members and so on, so it’s just a bit odd because it’s not something you generally talk about.”
The host added: “Even on Friday, it was very touch and go as to whether I should leave it in the documentary, because it’s a big thing to say.”
In the documentary, Lisa Phillips tells Ranvir of her own experience with Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein. She was 21 years old when Epstein attacked her on his Caribbean island.
Phillips said: “I went along with it. You’re not going to kick and scream and fight and yell when you’re on an island.”
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
