Television presenter Trisha Goddard has revealed how her children had to be trained how to open parcels in case there was a bomb inside while armed police visited her Norwich home following threats.
The chat show host, 62, who now lives in America but lived in Norwich when her daytime programme Trisha was made at Anglia TV, also revealed that her family were given ‘safe places’ to visit in Norwich.
She said: “We had a Special Branch come to our house and teach our kids how to open parcels in case there was something like a bomb in it.
“We also had safe places. I used to tell them in Norwich where they could go if you feel something is going on.
MORE: Trisha says her children were bullied in Norfolk over Bo’ Selecta portrayal
“That was because of my colour and not because of anything I had said.”
Speaking on The Recovery, a podcast hosted by DJ Fat Tony, she said she “never thought about” her colour as she rose to fame during the 1990s.
But recalling the time an armed unit turned up at her house, she said: “I was watching television with my then husband and there was all this commotion in the drive, headlights, cops in flak jackets and armed units around the house banging on the door asking if I was all right.
“I had to say ‘Yes I am all right’. And then you are told why it happened and that is even scarier as you were just watching telly.”
Earlier this week the presenter said that her daughters had also been bullied following the portrayal of her on sketch show Bo’ Selecta.
Comedian Leigh Francis apologised earlier this month and said he was “deeply sorry” over the way he depicted stars including Trisha, Michael Jackson and Craig David in the Channel 4 series.
“Let me just tell you, I’ve only just recently discovered how bullied my children were in Norfolk over the character,” she told Newsnight.
“It was the big lips, and all the things that every black child has been bullied about. I can laugh at myself, but it was the racial over-the-top with the big wide lips and the ‘rice and peas’. I couldn’t watch it.”
Ms Goddard said she had received “vile abuse” since the comedian, who is currently well-known for his character Keith Lemon, had apologised.
Appearing on Good Morning Britain, the presenter explained that she has been subjected to “thousands and thousands” of people sending abuse.
“Since Leigh made that apology I have been subject to even more vile abuse,” she said. “I’ve had thousands and thousands of people saying the same thing.”
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