Gail Porter ‘was left homeless and sleeping on benches’ after TV career dried up

Gail Porter has opened up about her previous struggles with homelessness, saying she was penniless and left ‘sleeping on benches’ after her TV career dried up.

The 49-year-old spoke about how her opportunities were limited when she refused to wear a wig after being diagnosed with alopecia.

Gail presented shows likes of CITV and Top of the Pops during a successful career, but spoke about living on the streets after things dried up for her in the mid 00s.

Speaking on the Sacrifice and Success podcast, Gail said: ‘My personality took a bit of a knock. Jobs just stopped. Because you don’t look the same, “would you wear a wig, would you mind wearing a wig?” No, I don’t want to wear a wig. This is how it is.’

‘People go through a lot of worse things. My mum lost her hair to cancer, from chemotherapy. I just lost my hair. I’m very lucky.’

The presenter said that while going through her divorce with former husband and Toploader guitarist Dan Hipgrave, she ended up homeless.

‘My mental health was just going. I was going through the divorce, no money coming in. ‘So eventually I had nowhere to stay. It just went from bad to worse. Things like, what do you do? Do I drink? I’ve got no clue whatsoever, I don’t take drugs so…’

Gail added: ‘I’ve got no money, I’ve got no work, I’m sleeping on people’s coaches. It was like the Young Ones. I didn’t think I was going to be like this at my age.

‘This is why you don’t take everything for granted. You must always remember how lucky you are and be extremely kind. So there were a few times I didn’t have enough money on my phone to call anybody.’

Gail was sectioned under the Mental Health Act in 2011, and she credits her daughter Honey for motivating her to save her own life.

She said: ‘I’m bald, I’ve got no money, can’t get a job and I was so embarrassed to be the worst mum. I went to all sorts.

‘I went to rehab for my depression, self-harming, if I didn’t have Honey I wouldn’t be here. One hundred percent. I would not be here. But I thought, I can’t do that to my daughter at all.’

Meanwhile, Gail previously suggested an unexpected cause for her alopecia, revealing her hair began to fall out as she visited Frank Sinatra’s grave.

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