TV PRESENTER Ranvir Singh has revealed how she was sexually abused as a child. The journalist and political editor for Good Morning Britain fought back tears when interviewing Lisa Phillips - a contributor on a documentary about Ghislaine Maxwell who was found guilty of sex trafficking by a US court earlier this month.
Singh, 44, recalled: “I felt quite a shocking sense of empathy with what she (Phillips) was describing. And I was acutely aware we were on camera but it’s a human-to-human experience when someone’s telling you something so painful.”
Singh said to Phillips: “Something happened to me when I was 12 and I understand you shouldn’t feel guilty.”
After becoming emotional, Singh apologised to her and added: “Do you know what, I’ve only ever told two people in my life. And in the last two weeks, I’ve had to tell family members.”
In the documentary, Singh said, “It happened once — and that person is dead — and so I have an understanding of what it’s like and why you would never want to speak of it again.”
Later, speaking to her colleagues Susanna Reid and Richard Madeley, Singh said her revelation “came as a complete surprise, actually, which I suppose speaks to some of the issues around the Ghislaine trial, about memory, around incidents that happen in your life of that nature”.
She added: “I think a lot of people who have crimes of that nature committed to them do feel a sense of guilt, of could I have done more? Should I have shouted, should I have screamed?
A sort of survivor guilt, I think.”
Phillips was among underage girls targeted by the late Jeffrey Epstein and Maxwell. Singh said because the interview was done over Zoom, she couldn't physically comfort Phillips, and so decided to confide her as feelings she had felt resurfaced when she was recounting her ordeal.
The documentary, titled Ghislaine, Prince Andrew and the Paedophile, was scheduled to be shown on ITV on Tuesday (18) at 9pm.
David Lammy
Seema Malhotra
Moments from the event
