Celebrity Big Brother star forced to move home ‘for the safety of her kids’

Benefits Street’s Deidre ‘White Dee’ Kelly has revealed she was forced to move home due to concerns over her children’s safety.

The TV star first appeared on screens in the Channel 4 documentary series, which followed the lives of benefits claimants living on James Turner Street in Birmingham.

In the same year, 2014, she was cast on Celebrity Big Brother alongside Gary Busey, James Jordan, George Gilbey, Lauren Goodger and Stephanie Pratt, eventually coming in fifth place.

Now, a decade on, Dee has spoken about having to move off her infamous street, which all unfolded while she was in the Big Brother house.

Appearing on This Morning on Tuesday, Dee, 52, told hosts Cat Deeley and Ben Shephard about how she felt about the series with hindsight, especially after it received criticism for its portrayal of people claiming benefits.

‘I feel proud to a certain extent because it brought to the forefront that not everyone in the system was a bad person,’ she said.

Benefits Street’s Dee Kelly had to move house after the massive response to the series (Picture: Rex/Shutterstock)

‘The attacks that came and still do, to people on benefits are brutal.

‘But you need to look further into it, because not everybody wants to be on it, and it can be due to various circumstances.’

She then explained how her life changed after the series was released, and the somewhat strange interest in her street.

‘It changed my life – people knew who I was and started criticising me but also related to my experience,’ she explained.

Dee then spoke about the street becoming a tourist attraction.

‘The reality is that it’s a tiny little street and has about 100 houses on it and even about an hour after the first episode aired, the street was gridlocked,’ she said.

‘As the episodes went on, we would open our doors and there would be a French film crew or people from a Russian TV station…it was completely surreal.’

Her popularity on the series saw Dee asked to appear on Celebrity Big Brother but while she was locked away from the world, her family was told they had to pack up and move.

Dee went on to appear on Celebrity Big Brother the same year (Picture: Richard Ansett)

‘I went in and came out and we had moved!’ she exclaimed.

‘I thought “oh my God” they’ve moved my home, but I can see why they did it. They did it because of my profile and the safety of my kids obviously. You bring your kids up telling them to never talk to strangers and then all of a sudden, you’ve got thousands of strangers turning up and asking, “is your mum in?”.

‘I do see why it happened, but I miss it because it was home.’

Dee is mum to Caitlin, 26, and Gerrard, 17.

When asked if she had managed to keep in touch with any of her neighbours featured on the series, Dee said it had been difficult.

‘Sadly, I don’t see people who were in the series but do see people who lived on that street,’ she said.

Reflecting on taking part in the show, Dee labelled it ‘the first of its kind and groundbreaking’.

She then spoke about her ongoing charity work helping address youth violence and knife crime, as well as running a food bank.

‘This has given me back a little bit of what I lost,’ she said.

She spoke about life since reality TV on This Morning this week (Picture: Ken McKay/ ITV/ Shutterstock)

In a recent interview with The Mirror, Dee said she’d wanted to offer assistance in a non-judgmental setting.

‘I do it because it’s in my heart and it’s how I was brought up – it’s the idea that nobody is better than anyone else. We’ve all been through tough periods in our lives,’ she said.

‘We help them find places to live and sort out their benefits because there’s so much red tape.’

She added: ‘Officials so often fob people off, and that’s not right. We make sure people are supported.’

This Morning airs weekdays at 10am on ITV1.

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