Kelly Brook has said she was trolled and made to feel like an outcast for choosing not to have children, as she criticised what she called "mummy propaganda" during an appearance on Loose Women.
The presenter, 46, appeared on the ITV panel show on Monday for a discussion about the stigma surrounding women who choose to be child-free. The conversation was prompted by Lady Gaga secretly welcoming her first child with her fiance, Michael Polansky, with the singer saying becoming a mother had been her life's dream.
Brook, who built her career as a model before moving into television presenting, has become a regular face on the long-running ITV daytime show, which is known for candid panel discussions among its rotating line-up of female presenters on topical and personal issues.
Kelly, who is married to husband Jeremy Parisi, 41, said she had been made to feel "there was something wrong" with her for not wanting to start a family.
"I think it's nice now we can talk so openly about not wanting children because 10 years ago when I talked about not having children that I used to feel like there was something wrong with me," she said. "Other women would make me feel like there was something wrong with me for not wanting to have children. You just know in your heart of hearts."
Kelly Brook hits out at 'mummy propaganda'
Kelly went on to say that not wanting children didn't make a woman selfish or unmaternal. "It doesn't mean you're selfish, it doesn't mean that you're not maternal. It doesn't mean that you don't love children, it just means that your lifestyle is set up in a way where you are happy and fulfilled," she said.
Her comments followed a remark from fellow panellist Coleen Nolan, a member of the pop group The Nolans and a Loose Women panellist since 2000, who said her sister Denise, 74, had told her she didn't want children "because she's selfish". Kelly rejected the idea that childless women are selfish, telling the panel: "There's so much of that around, like 'how do you know what real love is if you don't have children? How can you be a real woman if you haven't given birth.' All of these things are made to make women feel like they are less than a woman because of it."
She added: "I used to be so frightened talking about it. If I did talk about it, I was trolled and made to feel like an outcast. More women are realising now there is more to life than children. You can have a marriage, career and do amazing things."
Meeting husband Jeremy Parisi
Kelly also spoke about meeting her husband, saying that when they got together she already had her own house and a successful career, and wasn't looking for a partner to provide her with marriage, children or financial security. "When I met my husband, I met him at a time where it was just love. I wasn't expecting anything else," she said.
Kelly Brook's past pregnancy loss
Kelly has previously spoken about her decision to remain child-free, saying past traumas had left her feeling like a "failure" and shaped a difficult experience of trying for children. The former model lost her baby at six months pregnant in 2011, while she was with her then-fiance, the former Scotland rugby union international Thom Evans. She has described the loss as "the most devastating thing" and said she doesn't think she can "fully recover from that".
"In my 20s and 30s, I had miscarriages and past relationships that took their toll on me, physically and emotionally," she said previously. "It affected my life, my career and how I looked at myself; it made me feel like a bit of a failure. It made me judge my partners negatively, by how they responded to it."
She added that the experiences meant she never had a positive experience of either pregnancy or trying for a baby.
