Lorraine Kelly lends her support to Amanda Barrie and says she’s the ‘best ever Celebrity Big Brother signing’
Lorraine Kelly seems to be hooked on Celebrity Big Brother already, taking to Twitter to praise ex-Coronation Street star and new housemate Amanda Barrie.
Lorraine tweeted: "Probably the best ever CBB signing. Amanda will be an incredible housemate. Cannot believe she is 82!!! #legend".
Amanda has been a major talking point since the show kicked off last night, as she revealed she'd signed up to stop herself "thinking about death".
The actress, who played Corrie's Alma Sedgewick for 20 years until she left the soap in 2001, told The Mirror that her appearance fee will be set aside until she needs it in her later years.
Amanda said: "I had no intention of doing [Celebrity Big Brother], but then I thought it could pay for my care home. It would be nice to have that independence."
Upon entering the house, Amanda - who is one of the oldest contestants to ever take part on the show - cried and said: "All I can say is that it's a bloody miracle I got up those stairs."
The Channel 5 show saw an all-female cast join the famous house, to mark 100 years since women got the vote, before men will join later in the series.
Eight women entered the house last night, including former MP Ann Widdecombe, Khloe Kardashian's best friend Malika Haqq, and reality TV star Jess Impiazzi.
Amanda married theatre director Robin Hunter in 1967, and despite separating in the mid-1980s, the pair didn't divorce and he died in 2004.
She came out as a lesbian aged 67, and has been married to her crime writer wife, Hilary Bonner, for three years.
Speaking about her why she didn't come out during her years in Coronation Street, Amanda admitted she worried that she would have been fired.
Speaking on Loose Women in 2016, she said: "The trouble was with me that someone had tipped them [the paparazzi] off that I was...there was an interest in my sexuality shall we say.
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"And I remember just being absolutely terrified because I knew at that time, I think I'm right to say, I would have lost my job.
"I also felt really guilty myself because they made me feel guilty.
"I was playing Alma and then I had this whole other life and I felt like I couldn't look anybody in the eye."
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