Myleene Klass said she makes a “very loud noise” about sexual harassment because she does not want her daughters – or any other woman – to go through what she did.
The singer and presenter, 43, said she has faced harassment within the entertainment industry “many times”, recalling an incident which left her feeling “horrific”.
Klass said she is teaching her children – daughters Ava and Hero and son Apollo – to speak up if they are uncomfortable.
Speaking on the Dirty Mother Pukka podcast, she spoke of being sexually harassed several times in auditions.
The TV and radio star recounted “one of the worst auditions” of her life, when a director asked her to take off her dress.
She told of another audition when, aged 19, nasty comments were made about her figure.
Klass added: “At the time, I would’ve crept out the door and felt horrific. Now I make a very loud noise about it because you will not put me in a position where my daughters will then have to follow suit, or any other woman who can’t speak up for herself or the 19-year-old me in the room.”
Klass said she is now teaching her children to “use their voice”, saying: “No means no. If it feels uncomfortable, it’s wrong.
“You don’t have to wait for the justification of, ‘I’m sure he was being really nice’, or, ‘Maybe I misinterpreted it,’ or, ‘Maybe you came a little bit too close’. I said: ‘There is no buts.'”
Klass said she also told her partner, PR boss Simon Motson, to cross the road if he sees a woman in front of him at night and said she does the same to avoid causing them any distress.
“It’s women looking after women even in that way, and I just think it’s just that kind of education,” she added.
“The sad thing is we shouldn’t have to be doing this.
“And I’ve said this to my daughters too: ‘I hate that I have to teach this to you but until we live in a world where women can run freely through a park, don’t have to look at what time it is before they can have that window of opportunity to run to the shops, or don’t have to fake a call in the back of a car, “I can see you I’m just I’m just on the corner now!”…'”
