Entertainment

Susanna Reid: Piers Morgan drove me to drink again

The Good Morning Britain presenter has said she was provoked by her co-host.
The Good Morning Britain presenter has said she was provoked by her co-host. The Good Morning Britain presenter has said she was provoked by her co-host.

Susanna Reid has said fellow presenter Piers Morgan drove her to drink again.

The Good Morning Britain host had been teetotal for seven months before Morgan made her desperate to drink again.

Reid has said her co-presenter’s daily provocations infuriated her and made her feel “I can’t do this”.

The presenter said Morgan sapped her of the BBC neutrality built up before her move to ITV, and forced her to have an opinion.

Reid told Prima magazine that this change was positive, but also ended her abstinence.

She said: “When Piers Morgan joined Good Morning Britain in 2015, I’d been teetotal for seven months.

“Believe it or not, he drove me to the booze again.

“At 6.01am every morning, I would think ‘I can’t do this’.

“He’s not afraid to say the most personal and provocative things, which I found infuriating.

“I tried ignoring it at first, before realising he was determined to prod and poke me until I was forced to have an opinion on something.

“He now says he’s drained out of me the BBC neutrality that I carried with me for the first 20 years of my career – he’s right.

“Actually, it’s turned out to be a good thing.”

Reid said there are “more bad pictures of me in existence than there are good”, but accepts her appearance as a “real woman”.

Asked about her ideal guest, the presenter said: “We have a WhatsApp group where we discuss our dream guests; my number one is Michelle Obama.

“I’ve just started reading her memoir, Becoming, and there’s so much I’d love to ask her.”

The full interview can be read in Prima magazine, on sale on May 6.