CELEBRITIES today have many useful weapons in their daily armoury – publicists, filters, social media, stylists and managers.
But unquestionably the greatest of them all, the atomic bomb of get-out clauses, is an abstract one: “mental health”.
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It’s increasingly proving a card that can be plucked out and played at any moment in time to extricate someone from a tricky situation.
None, perhaps, has been played quite so chillingly as in the case of Huw Edwards.
Through a litany of excuses, a perverted variation of the ‘dog ate my homework’, the 63-year-old blamed his dad, failing to get into Oxford Univeristy, his repressed bisexuality and the drying up of his marital sex life.
Heart disease – arteriosclerosis – was also said to have been a possible factor in his erratic behaviour.
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My poor dad has serious heart issues and he’s never WhatsApped a paedophile asking for photos of young boys being abused.
If the case wasn’t so serious, so innately grim, his defence would be risible.
People are getting away with bad behaviour by urging others to forgive them, to #bekind
The problem here is that by trying to justify his abhorrent actions – having 41 indecent images of children on his fragile mental state, he undermines and lampoons those with real, life-affecting illnesses.
It also takes away from all the hard work done by countless charities (and other kind, decent celebrities) to make mental health an accepted part of the national conversation.
And that’s simply not fair.
Just as the concept of #bekind was introduced to stop online bullying, so it has now become synonymous with being unkind.
People are getting away with bad behaviour by urging others to forgive them, to #bekind.
It’s a way to exploit the rules, and get away with it.
Edwards’ lawyers cited a list of excuses and, sure enough, he was let off with a six month suspended sentence.
Now, rightly so, the Justice Secretary is launching a sentencing review in the light of public anger at the newsreader’s case.
Edwards, the steady, compassionate hand who guided us through the Queen’s death, Olympics and Commonwealth Games, a coronation and, even, Songs of Praise, was also, it turns out, grooming a boy at the time of Prince Philip’s funeral.
Behind the public mask, hid a dark, complicated, deeply torn soul.
Edwards has battled mental health issues for over 20 years – and has been on medication.
There is no question he does have an illness, and anyone with mental health problems deserves compassion.
Creeping shadow
He is currently in hospital having treatment, and I sincerely hope it helps. I also have nothing but sympathy for his poor wife and children. Everyone, in short, hopes he gets better.
But in this all-too-modern world, we cannot allow predators to become victims.
The real victims are the poor children being abused. What about their mental health?
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Every mental health claim must be heard, and taken seriously, but those who abuse the system, one largely built on trust and goodwill, are casting a creeping shadow of doubt over what is legitimate and what is not.
Last year, when The Sun first revealed an anonymous BBC star had been paying money for inappropriate images of a teenager with drug issues, it was rounded upon by critics.
People like Jon Sopel and Alistair Campbell leapt to their pal’s defence, claiming there had been no illegality (this was prior to his arrest).
The latter Tweeted: “To those saying he is “playing the mental health card” – I suggest you take a long hard look in the mirror and ask what kind of person you really are.”
I’d suggest it was those abusing the system who should take a long, hard look at themselves.
Racist shame
ANYONE who sweetly, naively thinks we don’t have a racism problem in this country, consider actress Francesca Amewudah-Rivers’ comments.
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She has received death threats after being cast opposite Hollywood hunk Tom Holland, above, in a West End production of Romeo & Juliet.
Francesca, who plays Juliet to Tom’s Romeo, said: “There were many days where I didn’t know how I was going to get through it.
The flurry of abuse was sustained throughout the whole job. I received death threats, hate mail sent to the theatre. I didn’t feel safe.”
Gisele such a hero
FOR the past 25 years, Time magazine has honoured many a celebrity, scientist, politician or philanthropist with its Person of the Year edition.
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Can the next front cover please go to the incredible Gisele Pelicot?
Can the next front cover please go to the incredible Gisele Pelicot?
Proving not all superheroes wear capes, this is an astonishingly brave, trailblazing woman, whose husband drugged her and allowed scores of men to rape her over a period of ten years.
Last week, refusing to hide behind her right to anonymity in order to raise awareness for all female victims of rape, voyeurism and secret surveillance, she took the stand.
Help thousands
The 72-year-old fearlessly squashed the ludicrous notion she knew what was going on, and slammed opposition lawyers routinely trying to humiliate her. And failing.
This empowered grandmother, an unflappable, sunglasses-wearing uncapped crusader, has single-handedly done more for victims of abuse than tarnished legal systems across the world.
Ms Pelicot chose to make this trial public, knowing that doing so would bring far more attention to the case – and help thousands of nervous, voiceless women.
She is also trying to overturn archaic French rape laws and the country’s attitude to sexual abuse.
What a woman.
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I’m one unappy eater
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TESCO’S CEO says the supermarket may use AI to help customers make better food choices.
Ken Murphy reckons Clubcards will be used to track baskets and suggest healthy alternatives.
Which is all well and good – and probably needed in the midst of a spiralling obesity epidemic – but, from my personal experience I don’t do too well at being told what to eat.
After downloading MyFitnessPal, an app which sees users manually import their food intake to track calories, I was informed after one especially gluttonous day: “If you ate like this every day for five weeks, you’d be 27 stone.”
I didn’t bin the Brie, I binned the app.
Tesco, you’ve been warned.
WE were promised a new, sleaze-free era under Labour. Alas, it turns out: same troughs, different snouts.
Oink.
Cha-cha cheek
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PROVING that crime pays after all, the convicted conwoman known as “the fake heiress” is currently foxtrotting her way to another payday.
Anna Delvey, who was given £230,000 by Netflix for her story – one which saw her jailed Stateside for almost four years for attempted grand larceny – is currently appearing on Dancing With The Stars… complete with diamond-encrusted ankle tag.
Described by America’s Strictly as an “entrepreneur and fashionista”, she performed a breezy cha-cha to Sabrina Carpenter’s Espresso last Tuesday, wearing an ombré rainbow outfit and matching bedazzled monitor on her right leg.
But then again, we shouldn’t be too surprised: this, after all, is a country whose would-be President was filmed boasting about grabbing women by the “p****”, and for whom cancel culture is not yet a “thing”.
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