India Scarlett Willoughby is an English newsreader, broadcaster, journalist and reality television personality. She is known for being Britain's first transgender national television newsreader on Channel 5 and the first transgender co-host of an all-women talk show Loose Women on ITV. She is a previous nominee for a British LGBT Award and winner of the Diversity in Media Award for Media Moment of the Year.
Career
Willoughby was born and grew up in Carlisle, Cumbria as a male named Jonathan. Willoughby presented the news in the North East and Cumbria as a TV reporter at ITV Border. Willoughby says she came up with the idea of being two genders at once in a bid to avoid hurting her family by telling them she was transgender. She claims to have invented the term "gender fluid", using it to describe her life during this period. In 2016 she re-joined ITV Border as an on-screen reporter, before moving on a three-month contract to ITV Tyne Tees. In 2017 she joined 5News on Channel 5 – becoming Britain's first transgender national television newsreader, reading the lunchtime and evening updates. The same year Willoughby was invited onto ITV's Loose Women to tell her story as a guest – but due to the public's response, she was invited back to be a co-host, in a show featuring Priscilla Presley and Russell Watson. In January 2018, Willoughby took part in Channel 5's Celebrity Big Brother – Year of the Woman. After Celebrity Big Brother, Willoughby became the victim of social media trolling about her looks. She described herself as "The most hated transgender person in Britain." As a result, she had Facial Ferminisation Surgery in Marbella in 2018. Willoughby has since been a regular guest on ITV's Good Morning Britain. She has also appeared on programmes including Channel 5's Most Shocking Celebrity Moments 2018 and When News Goes Horribly Wrong 2018.
In 2017, Willoughby was interviewed on BBC Woman's Hour by a long-time host Jenni Murray. Murray asked Willoughby if she considered herself to be a real woman, to which Willoughby replied "Yes." Murray then asked it was difficult appearing on an all-women show to talk aboutwomen's issues. Willoughby replied, "No, because I’ve always been a woman." Murray then asked Willoughby to comment on a story about London's Dorchester Hotel imposing a new dress code on male and female staff telling them not to display body hair on duty. Willoughby said she supported the rule – because, in a five-star hotel, she felt staff should be groomed and that customers "didn't want to be served soup by someone grubby with hairy legs, because it's not hygienic." Murray later wrote an article in The Times about the interview, stating that transgender women were not real women. Murray was temporarily suspended by the BBC and publicly admonished.
Celebrity Big Brother
Willoughby was a housemate in the 21st UK season of Celebrity Big Brother – subtitled Year of the Woman, to mark the 100th anniversary since women got the vote. Willoughby described drag as being the equivalent of Blackface, sparking strong criticism on social media. A photo later emerged on social media of Willoughby posing with drag queens at Harrogate Pride – though Willoughby said this was a paid engagement, at which she had been asked to have her photograph taken with "colourful characters." Willoughby was the first person evicted, on the 11th day.
