Gail Porter has described the moment her daughter Honey saw her without her hair for the first time.
The TV star, 52, was diagnosed with alopecia at the height of her TV presenting career in 2005.
In a new interview, she has described how “half of my hair” fell out while filming in America, and she realized she would have to fly back home to see her young daughter look completely different.
In conversation with Ellie McKay for the On a mission podcast, Gail broke down as she described how her ex-husband, Toploader guitarist Dan Hipgrave, and daughter Honey, now 20, put her at ease.
'I had to come home. I left my two-year-old daughter with a lot of hair and she was with my ex-husband,” Gail explained.
Gail Porter has described the moment her daughter Honey saw her without her hair for the first time. The TV star, 52, was diagnosed with alopecia in 2005 at the height of her TV presenting career
In a new interview, she has described how “half of my hair” fell out while filming in America, and she realized she would have to fly back home to see her young daughter look completely different (pictured with daughter Honey in 2009).
“And I had to call him and say, 'You have to tell her that dear mommy is coming home without her.'
Gail became emotional and continued, “Sorry, I'm still upset about this. Because I was so worried about her, I thought, what if she gets bullied at school because she has a bald mother?'
'Suppose she doesn't like me because she doesn't recognize me and I look different. And so I cried all the way home on the plane. And when I got home, I even pressed the buzzer even though I had keys, because I thought I needed some extra time.”
Gail explained her relief at her toddler's sweet reaction: 'I pressed the buzzer, and my ex-husband opened the door and he said, “Oh, wow, you're actually bald” and I was like, “yeah.”
“And then my daughter, honey, just came to the door and looked at me and said 'rock 'n' roll.' I thought, okay, we're doing well. I don't care what anyone thinks of me.'
Gail was married to Toploader guitarist Dan for four years before they separated in 2005 and divorced in 2006.
It was a year after the breakup that Gail lost her hair to alopecia and, not wanting to wear a wig for television appearances, work dried up.
Last year, Gail also revealed how she had struggled with debilitating insomnia since childhood.
Speaking on the On a Mission podcast, Gail broke down as she described how her ex-husband Dan Hipgrave and daughter Honey, now 20, put her at ease (pictured together in 2004)
Revealing her day in life routine to The Sunday Times MagazineThe star, 52, spoke candidly about her mental health and admitted that her insomnia has left her falling asleep for whole days.
Gail, who was diagnosed with bipolar in 2011, explained that she has suffered from insomnia since childhood: 'I have terrible insomnia – I'm awake at 1am, 3am, 5am. I'm a troubled child. Will I get work after Edinburgh? Have I emailed my friends enough? Will Ziggy like the cat sitter?'
“It's been going on since I was three or four, nothing works,” she added. 'Sometimes I'm so tired that I sleep for 48 hours. I wake up when it's dark and realize I've lost a day.'
Gail also opened up about how she deals with anxiety on a daily basis, explaining how she can “now embrace my past because I've had a lot of fun.” But long before I started working in television, I was already quite anxious and always had eating problems.'
Gail became a household name thanks to regular appearances on The Big Breakfast, The Movie Chart Show, VH1 and the iconic BBC music show Top Of The Pops (pictured in 1999)
Gail credits her daughter for her support, while also enjoying her new career path in stand-up comedy
Opening up about her history with anorexia, she said: 'I was flying from job to job 'forgetting to eat' and things quickly took a turn for the better. Even if someone had tried to intervene, I wouldn't have listened. Otherwise I would have agreed and ignored their advice.”
Gail credits her daughter for her support, while also enjoying her new career path in stand-up comedy.
Gail became a household name thanks to regular appearances on The Big Breakfast, The Movie Chart Show, VH1 and the iconic BBC music program Top Of The Pops.
In 1999, her popularity – boosted by modeling with cult magazines FHM and Loaded, among others – led to a nude photo of Porter being projected onto the Houses of Parliament without her consent as part of a guerrilla marketing campaign.