Gail Porter pays tribute to Scottish heritage at Tartan Day Parade

Gail Porter paid tribute to her Scottish heritage as she stepped out Saturday as the Grand Marshall of New York City’s 25th annual Tartan Day Parade.

The TV personality, 52, looked cheerful as she wore a blue and green kilt with pleated detailing and a drop hem at the back.

She was wearing a black top with a plunging neckline under a matching coat that she hadn’t buttoned up.

TV presenter Gail wore a pair of tough knee-high black lace-up boots and shielded her eyes behind dark sunglasses.

You could see Gail open-mouthed smiling as she waved her hands in the air and showed off the body art on her arms.

She shared a photo of herself on Instagram taking part in the event, captioning it, “Fun day being the Grand Marshall at New York’s Tartan Day Parade!”

The annual tartan parade in New York features pipers and drummers honoring Scots’ contribution to the United States of America.

This year it took place on 6th Avenue in the city and was the centerpiece of the Tartan Week calendar.

Past Tartan Day Parade Grand Marshals have included actors Karen Gillan, Brian Cox and Sam Heughan, singer KT Tunstall and comedian Sir Billy Connolly.

Before the event, she said, “I’m going to be the grand marshal, which is a bit daunting because there are a few thousand people behind you.

“When I got the call asking if I wanted to lead the parade, I thought, are you kidding me? No one will know who I am.

“At least I’m not going to spin around with a stick. It’s hard enough for me to walk in a kilt.’

It comes after it was revealed that Gail is headlining a series of stand-up comedy shows about her alopecia, mental health issues and homelessness.

She will launch her stand-up career at the Edinburgh Assembly Rooms from August 2-28, as well as shows across the UK.

Her routine will tell of how she went from being a children’s TV presenter to posing nude and seeing her naked image beamed into the Houses of Parliament only to be sectioned, diagnosed as bipolar and sleep rough.

The former Top of the Pops and Big Breakfast presenter, once listed by FHM as one of the world’s sexiest women, said: ‘I’m super excited to come to Edinburgh. I’ll be doing stand-up seven nights a week.

“I don’t know if it’s a midlife thing or whatever, but I was offered it and I thought, why not?

“I’ll do a few small gigs around the country to try out the material for that. I’ve always wanted to do it and I’ve written a lot.’

She continued, “I think when you’ve been through some pretty rough times and you can turn it into humor, other people can empathize. “The material is about my life.

“I take things that happened that were pretty bad and talk about them in a way that’s kind of funny and that I hope can help people.”

Gail was married to Toploader guitarist Dan Hipgrave, with whom she has a daughter Honey, 20.

The couple separated in 2004 and divorced in 2006 and things started to spiral out of control after their breakup, with Gail left homeless.

A year after the breakup, Gail lost her hair due to alopecia on the scalp and because she did not want to wear a wig for television appearances, work dried up.

At the same time, Gail struggled with the split and learned that her mother had cancer.

In 2007, Gail wrote about her hair loss story in an autobiography, Laid Bare: My Story of Love, Fame and Survival.

Then in 2011, she was diagnosed as bipolar after her then-boyfriend Johnny Davies expressed concern about her well-being.

Unfortunately, she became homeless in 2014 and slept on the street for a year because she couldn’t pay the bills or her rent because she wasn’t working.

Gail slept on park benches on Hampstead Heath, but she didn’t ask for help because she was embarrassed.

She eventually reached out to her family and friends for support and joined Celebrity Big Brother in 2015, managing to use the fee for a fixed down payment.

Describing it as a scary time, she explained that she refused to give up and that as a Scottish person she is “tough as old boots.”

Speak against The sunshe revealed that she is still worried about her finances due to the cost of living crisis.

She said: “Everything seems to be going up and up, and people are worried about whether they can pay the bills.

“I think most people spend about 80 percent of their pay on rent, bills and everything else.

“I still get nervous now when I think, ‘Okay, I’m fine, I’m on a level,’ but because I’ve been there before and I know so many people are struggling, I think at any time, it can all go very wrong.’