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Trisha Goddard stuffed her mouth with toilet paper as she faced racist bullying as a child

Trisha Goddard (Mike Marsland/WireImage)
Trisha Goddard (WireImage)

Trisha Goddard has told how she used to stuff toilet paper in her mouth to keep from crying when she encountered racist bullying at school.

The talk show star said she was called names by other children when she was growing up – and recalled how one teacher advised her to “toughen up” after an incident.

Goddard, 63, opens up on Piers Morgan’s Life Stories, which airs on Thursday.

Watch: Trisha Goddard reveals the pain of seeing herself depicted on Bo'Selecta

Read more: Trisha Goddard tearfully recalls 'pretending to be white' as a child

The Sun quoted her as saying: “I got really good at my primary school going in the loo, you get toilet paper and you stuff it in your mouth so they don't hear you crying.

"Because if they hear you crying while they're chanting the N-word outside, then you'll get it worse."

Goddard also tells Morgan about one time when she was nine or 10 years old and a boy hit her lunch tray so her food went flying.

Returning to the lunch line she “did the Oliver Twist thing” but was told she’d already had her meal.

Everyone started to laugh and she ran out crying.

Goddard said one teacher told her: “You've got to toughen up. We people in this country, we don't want people like you here. So if you're going to stay here, you're going to have to toughen up.”

She said hearing this from a teacher made her think she'd "failed". "I thought I wasn’t being English enough," she said.

LONDON, ENGLAND - JANUARY 28: Trisha Goddard attends the National Television Awards 2020 at The O2 Arena on January 28, 2020 in London, England. (Photo by Mike Marsland/WireImage)
Trisha Goddard (WireImage)

Last year Goddard spoke out about racism after Leigh Francis apologised for impersonating her – and others – on sketch show Bo’ Selecta!

The comedian said at the time that he had not realised how “offensive” it was and that he had been doing “a lot of talking and learning” following the death of George Floyd.

Read more: Trisha Goddard hits back at 'cancer sob story' trolls after Dancing On Ice exit

Goddard told BBC’s Newsnight she had hated the impression of her and that her children were bullied over it.

“Let me be clear on this, if the parody was just of me that would be one thing, but it was the big lips, all the things that every black child has been bullied about,” she said.

"I can laugh at myself, I’ve had people joke about me, but it was the racial over the top with the big lips, the big wide hips, the rice and peas.

"I couldn't actually watch it.”

Watch: Trisha Goddard breaks down as she recalls 'pretending to be white as a child'

Piers Morgan’s Life Stories is on Thursday at 9pm on ITV.