Dame Kelly Holmes is joining 'Loose Women.'
Dame Kelly Holmes is joining the Loose Women panel
The 52-year-old athlete - who won gold medals for sprinting at the Olympics back in 2004 - is "extremely excited" to become a regular panelist on the ITV lunchtime chat show and hopes to bring her own "energy" to the role.
She said: “I am extremely excited about joining 'Loose Women'. Having met a few of the panelists recently, I know that the shows will be full of energy, smiles, tears, and lots of laughs! I hope I can bring my energy to the show and I will be up for doing any mad experiences that they throw at me."
The sports star came out as a lesbian back in back in June and - following a tell-all interview on 'Loose Women' - charted her experiences in the new documentary 'Kelly Holmes: Being Me' and explained that she has "found her voice" since opening up about her sexuality.
She told The Sun newspaper's TVBiz column: "It will be so different to anything I have done before in my career, but now I have found my authentic voice since the airing of my documentary, I will join in on many conversations that I felt I never could before."
Kelly will join the likes of long-running panelists such as Janet Street-Porter, Coleen Nolan, and Denise Welch on the show - which is anchored on rotation by Ruth Langsford, Kaye Adams, Christine Lampard, and Charlene White - and editor Sally Shelford is "thrilled" to have a "national treasure" on board.
She said: "We are thrilled and honoured to have Dame Kelly Holmes join the 'Loose Women' panel. She is a national treasure and an inspiration to us all. We can’t wait to get her take on the topics of the day. Plus, she has already set us the challenge of taking her out of her comfort zone and putting her sense of adventure to the test."
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