Being Gail Porter

[peanutfoldover]

Anybody see this?

So hard to see her constantly beating herself up for something she had absolutely no control over.

Yes @Mrsjayy he probably hates London!

Such a beautiful woman, inside and out.

Just watched this and came here out of interest to see what others thought....

Seems to be fairly unanimous; everybody saying how kind she seems and how sad it is that she can't see herself as others see her. The thing that immediately jumped out at me was how she was constantly looking for validation and approval and to be told she was/is good enough.

She also just seemed very lonely, as she mentioned quite a lot about not having somebody to go home too. Frustrating as she is so kind, engaging and attractive that she could have her pick of men.

I have no idea if she is on mumsnet but wouldn't it be lovely if she could see these posts and see herself through other peoples eyes.

Ah, I really admire Gail. She SO deserves to live a happy life.

Her constant need for validation is a main symptom of anxiety if somebody is in that mindset then I think it is difficult to change

I know i might sound simplistic but i wonder if she would be happier out of the media. Perhaps training for a more fulfilling career. She seems v intelligent and so deserves to be happy. I really wish her well and would love to have a mate like her.

I agree with much of what other posters have written. I was frustrated that she didn't seem to want to go into more detail about family and childhood, as there seemed to be so much hinted at, but completely understandable given how personal it all is.

I was left wondering how much she herself understood that shitty things happening in your personal relationships in your formative years can have a huge impact on your mental health. The emphasis towards the end seemed to be on the diagnosis - as if only SHE had the problem and was 'broken' or disordered in some way. This idea - the over medicalising of poor mental wellbeing - is nothing new, so it surprised me how much this documentary gave weight to it. It was unclear whether Gail had had any psychotherapy at any point. Whilst no magic bullet, it might at least help her to form a different and more positive narrative about herself and her experiences.

Sadly, when people seem unable to move on, I can't help but wonder whether things like abuse might have occurred, which they are not yet able to talk about. I just felt there was so much more that wasn't addressed.

I just find it crazy that even back when was presenting TOTP etc she had issues with self esteem. She had the world at her feet and she was absolutely stunning - that face and body !!! She made a comment on the documentary about meeting all these handsome musicians on TOTP but "none of them fancied me"......I'm pretty sure most of them did.

Agree with a pp however that a mindset like that would be hard to change and obviously goes very deep.

As a previous poster also said, I also wondered if another career would be better for her.

I wonder how her marriage was and why they split (although I understand this is none of our business) but she does seem so unhappy to be alone and seems like she covets the stability of marriage and having someone at home.

I think she’s possibly in completely the wrong career too. The series where she shadowed a nurse was a long time ago but I remember her being excellent (I am a nurse) she was so kind, intelligent and empathetic. She seemed to get a real buzz out of it. I’m not sure if she’d have the resilience for acute nursing but I think she really looked like she had qualities that would make her so good in some sort of caring / therapy role. I’m sure it would be better for her mental health than the cut throat TV / celeb industry.

The eating disorder alone needs to be dealt with properly, she seems high and low and emotional all within five minutes, could medication/ CBT help?
The trauma of being brought up by a parent who tells her she’s “let herself down” would be enough for me to get some serious therapy- what a bastard.
I couldn’t help wondering whether she’d been abused as a youngster because at the beginning she alluded to no families being perfect etc but that’s “private.”
Also the terrible PND, spending issues, horrendous alcoholism.

I just can’t believe how much damage and on going sadness she’s dealing with.

I really hope she can get some help one of these days.
I also wondered whether the hair loss was due to the stress.

She was on Lorraine Kelly today she is under medical care and trusts her Dr,

LK really pissed me off she was saying "och you looked great on the H oP" being totally dissmisive and missing the point, I get she was trying to be reassuring but ...

Lorrainne isn’t exactly the nicest woman though is she!?

True

Lorraine Kelly is past her sell by date.

It’s not that, it’s just that her whole show seems really gossipy and the general culture of the show, unkind.

I remember when they had lily Allen on and LK told her that people either “love you or hate you” but she said it in a fake kind voice giggling and twittering and I just felt so uncomfortable about how bloody rude a thing that was to say to a guest.

When she said “people” I think she meant the type of people who are very black and white and can’t accommodate nuance.

Another time she was interviewing Busted about their reforming and she started alluding to fall outs they’d had in the band/ mental health issues one of them had had.

Again, focussing on the negative, bloody rude and left me squirming with how she has this false nice front but is really a hard-headed gutter press journalist.

Agreed. That’s what I meant. That style of interviewing is old hat.

Yes. It feels sleazy and overtly uncaring.

It just felt LK was saying it was just bum and a bit of boob what you being silly about just forget it cos you looked "ammaaaazing"

She always seems so lovely.
Gail, not Lorraine.

I watched this on the back of listening to the Scroobius Pip podcast 'Diatraction Pieces'. It's a really good listen as they gel really well and it's like two mates having a chinwag.

In the podcast she talks a little bit about her school life (nickname 'snobby Porter') and she was clearly a smart girl who kept her head down but then went 'off the rails a bit' after exams and throughout university as did many of us of a similar age who were into rave.

No mention of this early part of her life in the doc (perhaps saving it for the book?) and I wonder if she always had BPD but masked it well through coping mechanisms.

Another interesting thing from the podcast was that she appeared to have no desire to be famous and fell into the presenting stuff by chance and was more interested in working behind the scenes of the media - she was working as a runner and did lots of editing and bits and bobs.

I suppose when you're young you just think oh yeah well this pays AND it's fun, why not? And when you're up and running it's difficult to stop.

The programme was a hard watch I thought and the scene with her dad was heartbreaking. She definitely needs some TLC.

Bugger! Typo, it's 'Distraction Pieces' if anyone searches for it.

I love the sp podcast but had forgotten about it! Will listen tonight!

Yes it was heartbreaking when the dad said 'of course you didn't let me down!' then paused and added, 'you let yourself down'. Never wanted to reach through my tv and hug someone more (and I'm not a hugger).

Agree re Lorraine. Vacuous woman.