Lorraine Kelly has been blasted for “lying” about her career beginning by her former boss.
The ITV presenter, 64, began her career in television back in the 1980s, first reporting as a journalist for Scottish channel STV. Since then, the broadcaster has cemented herself as a staple of the channel’s daytime schedule, regularly hosting her own show on weekdays.
But now, one of her former bosses has come forward with claims that she had lied about how she started in the business some four decades ago. As part of a documentary exploring her TV career, Lorraine was celebrated by stars past and present as she thanked everyone for helping her get to where she is nowadays.
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She was inundated with messages of love and support from family, friends and fans alike, but for one of her co-workers, the celebrations left a bitter taste in his mouth. Mike Hollingsworth, who used to work as a TV exec at the time, says that he was instrumental to giving Lorraine her big break.
(Image: Getty Images)
In the documentary, Lorraine said that she had been relatively unknown in the regional office – where she had been working as a junior intern. But after some time, she plucked up the courage to call the breakfast team’s managing director, who gave her a chance and sent her down to London, where she got a job.
Mike, who is also the ex-husband of fellow breakfast TV presenter Anne Diamond, disagreed with her version of events. Instead, he took on her view head-on, telling MailOline: “Once again she credits the late Australian MD of TV-am with giving her the chance of a job.
“This is absolutely untrue – in fact the reverse was the case,” he fumed. “Bruce Gyngell didn’t initially like my choice because of her Scottish brogue but I took a stand against his view.”
(Image: EXPRESS NEWSPAPERS)
He added: “I am a bit miffed that she constantly refers to her beginnings as if Bruce Gyngell was the author of them. I’m not saying that I was solely responsible – I’m just saying that some recollections may vary.”
Many of Lorraine’s family and friends paid tribute to the TV star, as she fondly looked back at the early years of her career. However, she explained that she did face some pushback, particularly from TV bosses who took issue with her thick Glaswegian accent.
After being told to get “elocution lessons”, she admitted that she felt “crushed” by the blow to her TV dreams. However, she said that her determination would prevail, and picked up the phone to call the managing director of the channel, who liked her enthusiasm and invited her down for an audition.
(Image: ITV)
“So I went down, did the audition and as the boss was Australian he didn’t hear a working class Glasgow accent,” she recalled. “He just heard a Scottish accent and gave me the job which was amazing because you didn’t have people sounding like me on the telly at that time.”
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
