Gail Porter: 'I've been at rock bottom, slept on a bench, it's proof we get through'

Daily Record

3 days ago

Presenter Gail Porter shared how she has overcome depression, alopecia and homelessness to find new purpose and joy in life
At 54, Gail Porter is reflecting on a life that has taken her from the heights of TV fame to the depths of homelessness and back again. Now, she says, she is finally in a good place.
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'I'm 100% happy,' she tells the Mirror. 'I've got my cat. My daughter's doing brilliantly, she's 22 now, finished uni and is working. I'm working, too, mostly charity stuff, and often for free, but I still worry about the next paid job. After being sectioned and homeless, I feel very lucky. I have great friends.'
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The presenter and mental health advocate has never shied away from speaking about her struggles, including the moment in 2011 when she was sectioned under a 28-day order at a psychiatric unit in North London.
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'It was terrifying,' she recalls. 'I was drugged up to my eyeballs, sharing a ward with men convinced they were Jesus, and violent patients. It felt like One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest.'
In 2014, she hit rock bottom. With nowhere to go, she sofa-surfed for months before sleeping rough on a bench in Hampstead Heath.
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'I'd applied for library jobs and charity shop shifts. People said, 'You can't do that, you're Gail Porter!' I just wanted someone to give me a chance. Instead, I ended up on a bench thinking I'd had enough.'
It was a concerned boyfriend who contacted the police, fearing for her safety. 'Four officers walked up and said, 'Someone's very concerned for your safety. We're taking you to the hospital.' I kicked off. I was furious, but I was desperate,' she says.
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Long before those dark days, Porter was a staple of late 90s television, hosting Top of the Pops, The Big Breakfast, and gracing the covers of magazines. But her life began to unravel after she developed alopecia in 2005, losing her hair in clumps.
'Friends said, 'You're beautiful bald,' and for a while, I felt invincible, but work dried up. I got asked to do interviews about being bald, unpaid, because you're talking about an 'illness'. I thought, 'This is going to be a bit s***.''
The alopecia came alongside depression and anorexia. 'I lost everything, my house, my career, my confidence,' she admits.
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Today, she is in recovery, both financially and emotionally. After being declared bankrupt in 2017, she found stability through her Bafta-winning 2020 documentary Being Gail Porter, and continues to rent a place in North London.
She also campaigns for causes close to her heart. 'It's awful out there,' she says. 'I work with Fair For You to help people pay back loans without crippling interest, and with the Samaritans over the winter, because I know that darkness. Everyone's one missed payday from disaster.'
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Despite past romances, including her marriage to Toploader's Dan Hipgrave and a brief fling with The Prodigy's Keith Flint, she has no interest in dating now. 'I don't date. Now, it's all apps and swipes, I can't be bothered. I go to Soho, meet friends, maybe sneak off to a gig, and that's enough.'
She remains firm in her belief in self-acceptance. 'I've had dodgy comments, 'Where's your hair? Why no wig?' Sometimes I reply, 'Why didn't you wear better deodorant?' But 95% of people are kind. I love hugs, I get so many lovely hugs.'
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Now, she's embracing a new chapter with the launch of her own wig, 'The Gail', part of Amber Jean Rowan's ethical collection. 'People say, 'Gail, you said you'd never wear a wig,' and I went 20 years without one, but now there's a choice. The first time I put on The Gail, my custom wig, I fell in love. It's not about covering anything up, it's self-expression.'
With stand-up gigs, cruise ship Q&As, a new memoir in the works, and backing Prince William's Homewards homelessness campaign, Porter's life is full once again.
'I've been at rock bottom, from sleeping on a bench to standing on a cruise stage, it's proof we get through,' she says. 'You don't need therapy if you find your therapy. Mine is a spin class. When I was at my worst, I paid £100 for unlimited classes for two weeks and did two rides a day. My friends say I look so fit and happy. It's my lifeline.'
She adds simply: 'I'm not brave. I wake up, put one foot in front of the other, and here I am. That's all anyone can do.'