Lorraine Kelly has revealed she was reduced to tears after being dumped as a breakfast TV presenter while on maternity leave.
The Scots star, who celebrates her 60th birthday next month, said being laid off almost ended her blossoming career after she had daughter Rosie in 1994.
She had been preparing to return to her slot on GMTV, after only three months’ maternity leave, when she was told her dream job was going to Anthea Turner.
She said: “I cried. I felt absolutely terrible. I’d just had a baby and we had an enormous mortgage.
“I was the main earner. Both myself and my husband are freelancers and this job that I loved had gone. It was an awful time.”
GMTV asked her back a month later as they had sealed a sponsorship deal with a babyfood firm and wanted a mother-and-baby slot.
Lorraine added: “Your instinct is to tell them to shove it. But I’m not daft, so I said, ‘Yes.’”
Fortunately, that “little job” was a massive hit and it morphed into her morning show, Lorraine.
The Glasgow-born presenter also revealed why she had little time for her former GMTV colleague Esther McVey, now a Tory minister.
Asked on air in June if she remembered McVey, Lorraine gave a withering stare to camera and said: “Yep. Yes I do. Right, coming up after half past eight...”
Reflecting on the incident, she said: “I’d been reading the Brexit nonsense and shaking my head about how appalling our politicians were.
Then I looked into the monitor, saw one sitting there and thought, ‘I just can’t be bothered with any of you’.”
