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Gail Porter has revealed she was exploited by racy ‘lads mags’ back in the 90s – and was never paid for any of her work.
The TV personality, 52, had her naked body projected onto the Houses Of Parliament in 1999 without her consent when she was 28, as a publicity stunt for FHM’s ‘sexiest woman’.
The former Top Of The Pops and The Big Breakfast host has now revealed she was never even paid for the incident – and never received a copy of the pictures she was in.
She told The Daily Star: ‘I never got paid for anything that I did – I never got paid for FHM, GQ, or a lot of the magazines that I did.
‘Some of the others may have got paid, but I never did and I was quite vulnerable at the time.
Speaking out: Gail Porter (pictured on Loose Women last year) has revealed racy ‘lads mags’ exploited vulnerable stars in the 90s
Back then: The TV presenter, now 52, said she wasn’t paid for any of her photoshoots (pictured in 1999)
‘They were saying “This is going to be great for your career, it will be great fun, and think of the pics you can give your kids when you’re older.'”
Gail recreated recreated the House Of Parliament look on her own terms when she was 39 but has said she will never do it again.
It comes after Gail announced she would headline a series of stand-up comedy shows dealing with her alopecia, mental health struggles and being homeless.
The Scottish TV presenter will launch her stand-up career at the Edinburgh Assembly Rooms from August 2-28 as well as shows around the UK.
Her routine will talk about how she went from being a children’s TV presenter to posing nude and seeing her naked image beamed onto the Houses of Parliament to being sectioned, diagnosed as bipolar and sleeping rough.
Gail, once listed by FHM among the world’s sexiest women, said: ‘I’m super-excited to be coming to Edinburgh. I’ll be doing stand-up seven-nights-a-week.
‘I don’t know if it’s a mid-life thing or whatever but I got offered it and I thought, why not?
‘I’ll be doing a few little gigs around the country to trial the material before that. I’ve always wanted to do it and I’ve been writing a lot.’
Publicity stunt: Gail had her naked body projected onto the Houses Of Parliament in 1999 without her consent
She continued: ‘I think when you have gone through pretty tough times and you can turn it into humour, other people can relate. ‘The material will be about my life.
‘I take things that happened that were pretty bad and talk about it in a way that is pretty funny and that I hope can help people.’
Ms Porter was married to Toploader guitarist Dan Hipgrave, with whom she has a daughter Honey, 19.
The couple separated in 2004 and divorced in 2006 and things started to spiral out of control after their break-up, with Gail ending up homeless.
A year after the breakup, Ms Porter lost her hair to scalp condition alopecia and because she would not wear a wig for television appearances, work dried up.
At the same time, Gail was struggling with the split and found out that her mother had cancer.
In 2007, Ms Porter wrote about her hair loss story in an autobiography, Laid Bare: My Story of Love, Fame and Survival.
Ex-love: Gail was married to Toploader guitarist Dan Hipgrave (pictured in 2001), with whom she has a daughter Honey, 19, but they divorced in 2006 and she went through a tough time
Then in 2011, she was sectioned and diagnosed as bipolar after her boyfriend at the time Johnny Davies expressed concerns for her welfare.
Sadly, in 2014, she became homeless and slept rough for a year because she could not afford to pay the bills or her rent as she was not working.
Gail slept on park benches on Hampstead Heath but she did not ask for help because she was embarrassed.
She did eventually reach out to her family and friends for support and went on Celebrity Big Brother in 2015, managing to use the fee for a flat deposit.
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.’
