Ruth Langsford has recalled her experiences of sexual harassment and assault as a child.
The This Morning presenter opened up about the incidents in her latest column for Best Magazine.
Langsford wrote that between the ages of “about 11 and 16”, she had been “flashed at more than once” and “followed a few times”.
The 61-year-old said that a “man once put his hand up my skirt on a crowded train”.
She added that the harassment frequently occurred on her journey to and from school.
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“The Tube was my mode of transport and in the Seventies, it also seemed that perverts and predators were drawn to the same routes I took like wasps to jam,” she wrote.
Speaking about how she had reacted to the incidents at the time, Langsford said: “I was young and nobody talked about these things then, so I didn’t know what to do so I did nothing.”
In the article, she also commended her husband Eamonn Holmes as someone who “honours, respects, champions and defends women” but clarified that “he also has no experience of sexual harassment”.
Her comments come in the wake of Sarah Everard’s murder earlier this month.
The 33-year-old disappeared while walking home from a friend’s house in Clapham on 3 March. Her body was found a week later in woodland in Kent.
“Sarah Everard’s death marks a line in the sand,” Langsford said. “No more writing off stalking, exposing and sexual harassment as simply weird or odd behaviour… something that women grit their teeth and bear.”
If you or someone you know has experienced sexual assault or abuse, you can seek confidential support and guidance from The Survivor’s Trust by visiting their website or calling the helpline on 0808 801 0818.
