TV presenter Anne Robinson has opened up for the first time about having an abortion at the age of 23, and how the decision led to a 'terrifying, confusing and very, very lonely' experience.
Anne, who is now 73-years-old, has never spoken out about her experience before because of 'shame' she felt, but has chosen to talk about the subject now in a new documentary called Abortion On Trial.
The former Weakest Link presenter was married to her first husband, Charles Wilson, when she fell pregnant as a newlywed in 1968. However, the rising star was 'very very unhappy' at the time, leading her to decide to terminate her pregnancy.
'I was terrified, confused and very, very lonely because I didn't think I could talk to anyone,' Anne reveals in the new documentary.
'I came from a Catholic family and I was well aware of what Catholicism thought of abortion and it was a really isolated place.'
'So much so that the only way I felt I could go through with an abortion was if I didn't think about ... what I was doing. It was like someone who was shutting their eyes and jumping from a cliff.'
'Fear makes you behave in a very odd way,' she said. 'What I remember is, unexpectedly, the most terrible black doom came over me and it lasted for months.'
Despite the affect that it had one her, Anne – who has one daughter, Emma – says that she hasn't allowed herself to regret the decision she made back in the late 60s.
Anne Robinson has made these new surprising revelations in a new documentary for BBC2 which has been commissioned to mark 50 years since the passing of the Abortion Act.
In the show, which is due to air at 9pm on October 16th, Anne discusses the subject of abortions with nine other women and they look at why the subject is still taboo for many people, and shrouded in so much 'shame and secrecy'.
Anne Robinson recently revealed she was quitting as host of Countdown to spend more time with her family.
