Lucy Kennedy said she felt sick when she found out Sarah Harding died after she starred on her show Living with Lucy.
However, the popular host admitted she shied away from publicly commenting on her death at the time because she didn't want to pretend they were close friends.
Sarah died on September 5 at the age of 39, after being diagnosed with advanced breast cancer last year.
Breaking her silence on the tragic loss for the first time on Thursday, Lucy explained: “I never really commented when I was asked to about Sarah because we weren’t friends.
“I lived with her, and I am always very mindful of that when you see people making a tribute..
“So with Sarah I didn’t comment, because we weren’t friends. We lived together for three days, three years ago.”
The TV and radio presenter moved in with the former Girls Aloud star in 2017, when she took part in Living With Lucy.
Speaking to Ryan Tubridy on his RTÉ Radio 1 Show on Thursday morning, Lucy recalled her fond memories with the late singer.
“What I can say is, she was a beautiful person.
“She was a really, really nice, vulnerable, kind, gentle girl. She just wanted to get married and have babies.
“We talked about her love life a lot. And she was saying she’d always go for the bad boys but now she wanted to settle down… she was late 30s at that stage, god It’s just so sad.”
The 45-year-old continued: “It's so strange as well. You know when somebody very famous is sick, I always just presume they’re going to be okay.”
“I don’t know whether it’s because I think they have the money to get the best cure in the world, or because they’re invisible unlike you and me…”
“So when I heard that she died, I was just so surprised… I just felt sick.”
Lucy described Sarah as ‘warm and sincere’ but told how she recognised how the hardships of fame had ‘scarred’ her.
Lucy explained: “I think like a lot of celebrities, in particular the English celebrities I have lived with, it is a different culture over there[uk].
“They feel like they own you as a person. I saw it with Jade Goody, Kerry Katona, Gemma Collins, you name it, all the English celebrities get it.
“So they are all quite fragile, they are judged and papped. It is a different beast.”
“So Sarah was definitely scarred from her fame, without a shadow of a doubt.”
“Ultra fragile and paranoid, and she was worried whether she looked okay, and she was so pretty.
“Actually, she was somebody I did meet, when she opened the front door and thought, god you are really pretty.
“Her eyes were bright, she had a really smiley face. She was warm, she was lovely. And very sincere.
“I liked her.”
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