Trisha Goddard fought back tears as she recalled putting talcum powder on her face to "pretend to be white".
Trisha Goddard
The 62-year-old TV star - whose late mother Agnes Fortune was a Windrush nurse from Dominica - admitted she is "glad" her mum doesn't have to see the racism she is still facing in the UK after growing up with similar abuse.
Speaking to Lorraine Kelly on ITV's 'Good Morning Britain' on Monday (22.06.20), she said: "In many ways, I miss her, just talking about her makes me very emotional.
"But in some ways, I'm actually glad she's not here to see - I wouldn't be telling her about some of the racist abuse I've been getting.
"I remember when I was a little girl, I used to get talcum powder and mix it with water and put it on my face, and pretend to be white."
Trisha explained there needs to be a real change in the UK, and suggested a big part of that would be making education more diverse.
She added: "I'm hoping - like the #MeToo movement - I think because of social media, there's a lot more discussion about it. I think things really do have to change. And they are, slowly and surely.
"But I think it starts with education in schools. Not just education of black children about their past but all children.
"If you're going to teach history in this country, British history is British Commonwealth history and it doesn't start with slavery. There were bad things done by good people, there were good things done by bad people."
Trisha recently confronted comedian Leigh Francis about his portrayal of her in 'Bo' Selecta', but following his apology she has been hit with "even more abuse" by online trolls.
She said: "Since Leigh made that apology I have been subjected to even more abuse.
"[People saying] You've ruined his career just because you can't take a joke, and there have been threats."
The 'Celebrity Juice' host also apologised directly to her daughter Billie, 30, and he was "horrified" to hear the traumatic outcome of his portrayal.
Trisha added: "Leigh sweetly talked to my daughter Billie for a very long time about his experience, he was horrified [by] what she went through, he said as a father he feels so bad about this."
Earlier this month, Leigh took to Instagram to share a video of himself saying sorry for his portrayals of celebrities such as Trisha and Craig David on the programme.
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