Sophie Morgan is more than just a television presenter, she is a role model for people up and down the UK who are living with a disability. It’s probably fair to say the Loose Women panellist is one of the most influential disabled people in the country.
But fame hasn’t always been a friend to the 37-year-old TV star, as he has already been exposed to the ugly side of it. In October 2018, a man called Robert Keegan, of Redhill in Surrey, was arrested for stalking Sophie for a period of nine months between October 2017 and June 2018.
The man had sent her messages over Instagram saying he wanted to take her out of her wheelchair and carry her around “because it would be romantic”, the Evening Standard reported. He had admitted to stalking her in August 2018 and was slapped with a suspended prison sentence with a restraining order, which he breached several times just a month later with silent calls and voice messages.
READ MORE: Channel 4 The Great British Bake Off fans ‘obsessed’ with Kathy Burke biscuit that ‘is better than the Mona Lisa’ and ‘should be hung in the Louvre’
(Image: © Rachell Smith)
A court then ordered the stalker to be sent to a secure psychiatric hospital following advice from doctors. Speaking to OK Magazine, Sophie described the experience as ‘horrible’. She said: “At the time, I wasn’t using social media that much and I wasn’t making as much TV. It was shocking that I was targeted and the level of threat was horrible”.
Sophie continued: “There’s little you can do to protect yourself but you have to be careful about what, where and when you post. I see women post about being at a certain bar and I just think you are telling these people where you are. I won’t do that unless I know I’m safe. It’s scary, because you’re exposed. It’s dangerous and you have to be careful.”
But the experience has not affected Sophie’s public and online campaigning to raise awareness about disabilities. The former Paralymics presenter, who was paralysed in a car crash when she was 18, has even designed a wheelchair for shop mannequins to promote equality. The ‘Mannequal’ has already featured in Adidas and Debenhams stores and Sophie hopes to have them rolled out elsewhere on a permanent basis.
(Image: Daily Record)
She said: “I’ve designed a wheelchair for a mannequin to encourage retailers to think more holistically about introducing disability and to prove the business case for why that is worth doing. It’s exciting. I am working with some huge fashion retailers to change the way they communicate with disabled customers and to prove we are of value.”
Sophie has also said she has no regrets about the accident that bound her to a wheelchair for the rest of her life’ although she has described living with her disability as feeling like she is living a separate life to the one she was living before the crash.
She said: “It does feel like two different lives. The person I became after my injury is very different to the person I was. I’ve grown up, obviously, as I was a kid, but those two realities, personalities, identities definitely feel very split.
“Anyone who has had trauma in their lives that hasn’t killed them but has made them stronger can relate, I think. You don’t know if you would go back and change the course of events, because if you did then you wouldn’t be where you are”.
She added: “It’s not as clear-cut. I don’t live with regret or remorse. Of course, there is the conundrum of disability being hard and spinal injury is not an easy thing, so there’s certainly a compulsion to be my other self. But then I wouldn’t have gained all the things I have, so it’s a paradox.”
Fans of Sophie can tune in to Channel 4 this evening at 8pm to watch her co-host her latest show Luxury for Less alongside her on-screen counterpart Michelle Ackerley, as the two unite to show viewers how to buy luxury fashion labels at huge discounts.
Want more news from MyLondon? Sign up to our free newsletters here.
For all the latest World News Click Here
For the latest news and updates, follow us on Google News.
