Gail Porter says FHM stunt which saw her naked body projected on Parliament left her depressed
GAIL Porter has revealed FHM's stunt which saw her naked body projected on to the Houses of Parliament left her depressed.
Gail, 48, said she struggled to cope with “negative” comments and worried about leaving her home.
She told how FHM bosses kept her in the dark about the parliament projection in 1999, which helped shift more than one million copies of the magazine.
Gail Porter, from Joppa, Edinburgh, said: “I was asked to do a photoshoot and they said they were going to put it on the cover, which was like ‘that’s rather nice’.
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“I woke up one morning and heard my name on BBC News and there was my bottom.
"They had projected it on to the Houses of Parliament as a publicity stunt for FHM’s 100 Sexiest Women — and I never even won.
“I think people thought it was a career move. It absolutely wasn’t.
“I knew nothing about it. Then I got negative comments and started to feel depressed again and didn’t want to leave the house.
"But every time I went out I had to smile.”
Gail opened up about her mental health battle in a new BBC Scotland documentary and told how her “celebrity fairytale became a nightmare”.
She self-harmed for nearly 10 years and suffered from such severe anorexia she was told she’d never have a baby.
The ex-Top of the Pops host also got divorced from Toploader star Dan Hipgrave and lost her hair to alopecia.
She was sectioned under the Mental Health Act and ended up sleeping rough on a park bench after being declared bankrupt in 2017.
Gail revealed she only realised she was anorexic when she was banned from a gym after passing out and being taken to hospital.
She said: “People kept saying, ‘Wow, you look great.’ And I kept thinking, ‘Wow, every time I get thinner someone says I look great.’
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“I was enjoying the adoration and it got out of control. I still think I’m fat. I still struggle every day.
“It’s only now I feel able to face up to what I’ve been through.”
BEING Gail Porter is available to watch on BBC iPlayer.
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