Katie Piper told 'someone like me could never have TV career' after horror acid attack
Weeks into presenting the third series of Katie Piper's Breakfast Show, the Loose Women panellist was told she "could never have a TV career".
Katie Piper has disclosed how difficult she found working in showbiz following her 2009 acid attack. The Loose Women star revealed it was “disheartening” facing rejection from the TV industry due to her appearance.
In March 2009, Katie, 40, was a victim of a sulphuric acid attack and suffered severe burns to her face. As a result, the ITV presenter has undergone 110 medical operations and has recently completed a planned tarsorrhaphy.
Following the third series of Katie Piper’s Breakfast Show premiering earlier this year, the anchor has opened up about how knock-backs have affected her. Speaking to The Sun, Katie said: “Nobody said: ‘Oh, your appearance is a problem.’ But they told me they couldn’t see anything beyond ‘this’.
“It was like: ‘It’s terrible what happened to you, but that’s it.’ It was disheartening. Maybe they genuinely felt that they couldn’t do anything with me and didn’t want to get my hopes up.”
Meanwhile, the mum-of-two admitted TV executives would turn down her show pitches. Instead, they would suggest ideas such as her meeting other domestic abuse victims.
“As if that was all I could be interested in,” she complained.
Katie continued to say that she believed she had been put in a box and would never receive a straight answer on why she was passed over for roles.
“Although it bruised me to realise that people ‘like me’ didn’t go on telly beyond being a contributor, I decided to carry on doing what I was doing. I didn’t let it stop me,” she continued.
“It was a huge thing that happened to me, and it showed me this amazing part of myself I hadn’t known before.”
Don't miss...
Our Yorkshire Farm star Amanda Owen returns and fans all say same thing [REACTION]
James Martin says 'it’s a wonder I’m still alive’ as he confesses to ‘bad vice' [LATEST]
Barry Keoghan and Sabrina Carpenter not for ‘long-term’ as she swerves kiss [OPINION]
Since her attack in 2008 - which saw both her obsessive ex and another man being jailed for life - Katie has fronted various Channel 4 documentaries including Katie: My Beautiful Face and Katie: The Science of Seeing Again.
Meanwhile, the star has also appeared as a contestant on BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing and series four of Celebrity The Wall.
In 2021, she joined ITV’s Loose Women and launched her own weekend chat show, Katie Piper’s Breakfast Show, a year later.
The series is broadcast every Sunday morning and has previously featured guests Danni Minogue, This Morning’s Gyles Brandreth and comedian Jo Brand.