Kaye Adams has admitted that she's a 'victim of her own ageism' after lying about her real age.
The Loose Women star and Strictly Come Dancing contestant is turning 60 later this year, and having previously lied about her age in certain circumstances, Kaye has revealed that she did it as a 'defensive mechanism' amid her fears of growing older.
On the latest episode of her podcast, namely How To Be 60, the TV star insisted that she never wants to be defined by her age but by skating past the issue, she knows that she is a victim of her own ageism.
"For the last two of three weeks that I have been involved in Strictly, I just constantly make excuses for being old. I make digs at myself, I don't like looking at myself and I couldn't bare the thought of me in that red dress trying to look like some sort of vamp," Kaye explained.
"But then I thought to myself, 'what is this self-loathing that I have got into?' I don't know why I have been apologising for living until this age. I've lied about my age all these years because I don't want to be defined by it.
"Actually though, I am guilty of enforcing that negative connotation and I'm a victim of my own ageism."
Kaye had told her daughter Charly, now 20, she was 10 years younger - only for her daughter's friend to find out the truth on Google.
Charly had got into a row with a friends at school about her mother's age and accused her friend of lying.
Speaking about her upset, Kaye said: "Watching my little girl’s face fall into shock and confusion as I dropped into our chat what I thought was an insignificant, if not comic, confession — not to mention the resulting wave of shame and anger I rapidly felt with myself."
"It breaks my heart to know now that such was her trust in me that she convinced herself the internet was wrong," she told MailOnline.
Kaye revealed she confessed her true age to her daughter Charly when she was 10-years-old and Adams was approaching her 50th birthday.
The mum-of-two says she's signed up for Strictly as "later-life folly" and feels no pressure to win, but only to enjoy herself.
Ironically, Kaye said it's only now she's older she's got the confidence to 'give it a go' admitting the fact she lied about her age to her daughter seems 'even more ridiculous now'.
It comes as Kaye recently revealed that she surprised herself by agreeing to take part in the 2022 series of Strictly Come Dancing.
The Loose Women star never in a million years thought she would be up for taking part in Strictly - all because of her age.
During a recent appearance on Lorraine, Kaye admitted that she was previously very insecure about her age, and sometimes even lied to people about how old she actually was after beloved mum used to always 'knock off a few years'.
However, after realising that she should instead embrace her age and feel lucky to have made it to 59-years-old, Kaye decided that the time was right to strut her stuff on the Strictly dance floor.
