Carol Vorderman has opened up about the ageism she has dealt with since she was in her 30s. The Countdown whizz, now 61, has been relentlessly criticised in the past for her red carpet looks, including at the 2000 BAFTAs, which she attended as a 39-year-old.
The Clifton resident appeared on the latest episode of The Netmums Podcast, discussing the special educational needs her son, Cameron, has, and the 'incredible vitriol' she was hit with at the BAFTAs 22 years ago, The Mirror reports. Carol, who hosted the Pride of Britain awards alongside Ashley Banjo last week, has said her outfit of choice all those years ago caused 'huge debate' on TV.
She told the podcast: "I went to the BAFTAs wearing a short dress, not a micro skirt. They made a Kilroy Show on the BBC and they flew in this dress in from Paris - it was an Ungaro dress."
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Carol added: "The dress arrived and this huge debate in the studio was not, 'is this a nice dress', but 'should a woman age 39 wear a dress above the knee'! Oh, the vitriol was incredible."
The pilot then opened up about the labels often branded upon women who have look after themselves. She added: "I’ve always rebelled.
"Be a bit selfish, or what we’re told is selfish, it's selfish at all, it’s just that it’s been ingrained in women’s heads that looking after yourself a bit or having a bit of time for me is selfish, it’s not but if that’s how you do then be a bit more selfish."
Elsewhere in the podcast, Carol addressed the lack of support available for children with special educational needs. Her 25-year-old son, Cameron, who she shares with ex-husband Patrick King, has high spectrum autism, ADD, dyslexia, and ADHD.
Carol, who is also mum to 31-year-old Katie, said: "If a child has special educational needs, like my son did, he was off the scale dyslexic, he was in special school for about five years in the end. Sadly, there is not much support for them. Budgets have been cut in local authorities.
"Some people are waiting for years for that educational psychiatrist test. It’s not a good place at all at the moment. I can only see it getting worse right now. They end up being the forgotten ones sadly."
Carol also opened up about being 'desperate to do a documentary' to try and highlight which services should be available following the extensive research she has carried out. The Cambridge graduate claimed that a large number of those in young offender institutes are severely dyslexic, although she also made a point of mentioning that there are a lot of self-made millionaires who are dyslexic, too, so it can 'go one way or another'.
Carol added: "We are wasting massive potential of young people who see the world differently. I spend my life giving back to education, giving bursaries to kids, doing reports, encouraging children from state schools, I was a free school meals kid, encouraging them to apply to some of the finer universities."
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