Andrea McLean has opened up about the horrific bullying she was subjected to as a teenager during her school days in Scotland. The 49-year-old was born in Glasgow but actually grew up in the Caribbean and attended nine different schools. After a year in the Philippines, she moved back to Scotland for good when she was 15. During Tuesday's show, the Loose Women panellist recalled the terrifying moment her life was threatened by a group of girls, who continued to torment her for two years.
She said: "It was truly awful actually. I never told my parents because I thought they'd feel guilty about bringing me back to the UK. Also, I kinda thought I could deal with it myself." She continued: "I'm very creative, I'm quite arty, and at that time I did my art O-Level, wanted to do A-level, I was thinking about doing an art foundation course. They ripped up all my artwork, all the stuff that was going towards my exams. They would threaten to kill me, they'd follow me home. I never went to the loo the whole time I was at school because they'd follow you in. It was truly awful."
Andrea suffered for two years at the hands of bullies
MORE: Nadia Sawalha's sister Julia breaks silence following stormy relationship comment on Loose Women
Andrea opened up about her terrifying experience with bullies last November to mark the beginning of Anti Bullying Week. Speaking on Lorraine, the Scottish presenter explained that her bullying hell began after she helped a fellow classmate who was being tormented by the same group of girls. She said: "These girls were very, very viciously picking on another girl at school. She was quite a vulnerable girl, was very defenceless and all I did was walk over and say, 'What are you doing? Leave her alone.' She added: "Literally they all went, 'Now it's your turn' and that was for two years."
READ: Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's nanny pictured for the first time since Archie's birth
Like this story? Sign up to our newsletter to get other stories like this delivered straight to your inbox.
