TV star Gail Porter has opened up about the relationship between her and her daughter Honey, and explained why she is used to not seeing her on Christmas Day
Gail Porter has revealed the real reason she never spends Christmas Day with her daughter Honey and says “that’s how it should be”. The 54-year-old Scottish TV and radio star shares Honey, who was born in 2002, with her Toploader guitarist Dan Hipgrave, and worried her fans recently when she said she had “nothing planned” for the festive holiday.
In a new interview, the former Top of The Pops and Big Breakfast star attempted to allay her fans’ fears by explaining she “wasn’t complaining” about being without her daughter, she was just “having a bad day”. “My Instagram post was a bit clumsily worded but I was just having a rant. I did need a hug, but don’t we all sometimes?,” she added.
READ MORE: Stacey Solomon says her under-£20 hand warmers are her ‘best discovery of 2025’
Gail, who has become an ardent campaigner for various mental health and homelessness causes, opened up about the dynamic between herself, her ex-husband Dan and daughter Honey, and said she and her daughter were nothing like each other.
She described Honey as “brilliant and funny but sensible”, and said she had her “head screwed on”. When it comes to dynamic between her, Honey and Dan, Gail said she had grown used to her daughter spending Christmas with her dad’s side of the family, telling Mail Online: “Her dad Dan has a big family. His wife has a big family. They all – grandparents, everyone – want to see Honey on Christmas Day and that’s how it should be.”
Gail, who suffers from alopecia, married the Toploader musician in August 2001 after getting together with him following the breakdown of her relationship with The Prodigy frontman Keith Flint, who took his own life in 2019.
Gail and Dan separated in mid 2004, around two years after Holly’s birth. After going through a number of difficult periods in the years since – which included financial difficulties, mental health struggles and homelessness – Gail told the Mirror recently she felt “very lucky” to be where she is today.
“I’m 100% happy,” she said. “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.”
In April 2011, Gail was sectioned under a 28-day order at a psychiatric unit in London, and after a short period sofa-surfing in 2014, then found herself sleeping rough in Hampstead Heath. Even so, Edinburgh-born Gail said she doesn’t want or need sympathy, and is proud of where she is today.
“I hate it when people say, ‘Poor Gail,’ or ‘Gail, you’re so brave.’ 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.”
Source: Mirror
Leave a Reply