Celebrity Big Brother contestant Trisha Goddard’s feud with an ITV comedian left her ‘feeling sick’ after she claimed her ‘children were bullied’.
The talk show legend has made history by becoming the first ever Celebrity Big Brother contestant to undergo cancer treatment while in the house.
At the age of 67, Trisha has entered the reality game show alongside the likes of Hollywood icon Mickey Rourke, 72, EastEnders star Patsy Palmer, 52, and timeless one-hit wonder Chesney Hawkes, 53.
Extraordinarily, the trail-blazer is taking part in the show while completing her treatments without disruptions.
But, fans might not be aware of her feud with comedian Leigh Francis, who played fictional character Keith Lemon.
In 2020, Trisha revealed how her children were bullied for the way she was parodied on a TV sketch show.
She was one of a number of Black celebrities impersonated by Leigh Francis in the Channel 4 programme Bo Selecta.
Speaking to the BBC, Trisha said: ‘Let me just tell you, I’ve only just recently discovered how bullied my children were in Norfolk over the character.
‘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.
‘A couple of times I bumped into Leigh, I couldn’t even talk to him I felt so sick. And recently at an awards do, he knows I walked away from him.’
In the wake of George Floyd’s death, Francis issued a tearful apology after singer Craig David claimed Bo Selecta ruined his life and put him in a ‘very dark place’.
The show was then permanently removed from Channel 4’s on-demand service.
However, in a recent interview Francis insisted he ‘doesn’t regret’ his controversial TV show Bo Selecta despite accusations of racism.
He did add that he would ‘probably’ change some elements of the TV show.
Last year Trisha, who hosted daytime talkshow Trisha from the late 1990s, revealed that she has secondary breast cancer – also known as metastatic or stage 4 breast cancer – which is incurable, but she decided to opt for ‘life-prolonging’ treatment.
Speaking to Hello! Magazine, the Dancing On Ice star declared that she ‘won’t hide anymore’.
‘It’s not going to go away, and with that knowledge comes grief, and fear. But I must keep enjoying what I have always enjoyed,’ she continued.
Trisha was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2008 but was given the all-clear.
In 2022, however, her cancer returned as stage 4 breast cancer or metastatic cancer, and the esteemed broadcaster confirmed it’s ‘not going away’.
Celebrity Big Brother airs on ITVX.
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