India Willoughby: What Do We Know About the Presenter?
India Willoughby will be well-known to anyone who regularly watches Channel 5’s news programme. The presenter joined the news team in 2017, becoming the first transgender newsreader in the UK.
Since then, she’s appeared on many talk shows including Loose Women and Good Morning. But what do we actually know about the news host and journalist?
Here’s everything you need to know about India Willoughby, including her controversial stint on Celebrity Big Brother and some recent Pointless controversy.
Who is India Willoughby?
India Willoughby was born on the 2nd September 1965 in Carlisle, Lancaster. She started her career as a regular news reporter for ITV Border in her local area.
However, in 2010, she left her regional news job after ten years, taking five years off to transition. After, she rejoined ITV Border as India Willoughby, before doing a three-month stint at ITV North East.
But India got her big break in 2016 when she became the first transgender woman to appear as a panelist on an all-female talk show. She joined BBC4’s Woman’s Hour, where she made controversial comments about women in the workplace.
When asked if women should have to shave their legs for work, India said: “Personally, I wouldn’t like to be served by somebody with hairy legs, grubby nails, dishevelled hair, and looking a bit worse for wear.”
(Image: Source/ Instagram @indiawilloughby_real)
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After her appearance on Woman’s Hour, the Loose Women invited her onto the show, where she was a huge hit. Viewers loved her so much that they asked her to return as a full-time panelist on the women’s talk show.
She was also a contestant on Celebrity Big Brother in 2018, for a special edition to commemorate votes for women. However, her controversial comments didn’t go down well, and viewers wasted no time voting her out of the house.
Her Personal Journey
Though India didn’t officially transition until the 2010s, she has said that she knew she was a woman aged just three years old.
She finally had gender reassignment surgery in 2015, after living as a man for 50 years. Reports said that the surgery cost £14,000 – a small sum for India who finally got to live as her authentic gender.
India opened up about her decision to medically transition on Loose Women in 2016. She said:
“It started to get really bad around 40. I’d always thought I could control it.
It’s really difficult, it’s like holding your breath underwater. Every now and again I would come up for air and I would do that by taking myself off on a weekend by myself and living as a woman.”
(Image/ Source: YouTube)
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She’s also explained how for five years she lived as a man at the weekend and as a woman throughout the week.
In 2015, before her transition, India also had to reveal to her son that she was transgender.
However, she said that it went very well – but that they still haven’t decided what her son is going to call her!
“There’s an awkwardness around that aspect. It’s difficult cause when you get to Father’s Day…
But equally, I get on really well with his mum, and you don’t want to tread on her day!”
TV Controversy
In all her 20 years on TV, India has also drawn controversy for her often brash opinions. While on Celebrity Big Brother she angered viewers by comparing drag to blackface.
She made it known that she did fear drag queens and even cried when fellow housemate Andrew Brady came out in full drag.
She said: “Obviously, black people would find that offensive, and I just want to make it apparent to you why I got upset.”
(Image/ Source: independent.co.uk)
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More recently, India caused controversy on Pointless Celebrities, where fans thought she got a little bit of an easy time.
To one question, India gave an answer as “tenderhooks” – except that’s not a word. She probably meant to say “tenterhooks,” which is commonly mispronounced.
However, fans were livid when India Willoughby still got the points for it – despite Richard often being a stickler for correct pronunciation.