ITV GMB: Rebekah Vardy opens up about sexual abuse during Jehovah's Witness childhood and being shunned by mum

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Rebekah Vardy has opened up about her troubled relationship with her mother on Good Morning Britain this morning.The 41-year-old appeared on GMB on Tuesday to discuss her upcoming Channel 4 documentary 'Rebekah Vardy: Jehovah's Witnesses and Me'.The star spoke to hosts Susanna Reid and Ed Balls about her experience growing up as a Jehovah's Witness, as she alleges in a Channel 4 documentary that the religion failed to support her through sexual abuse as a child.Speaking about her childhood, she said: "I found this part of my life as a bit of an obstacle, but I wanted to use this obstacle to create an opportunity to help other people that have been in similar situations and just hopefully show that there's light at the end of the tunnel."The wife of Leicester and England footballer Jamie Vardy was raised in the religion in Norwich, Norfolk, but left the community the age of 15, after she claims she was "shamed" for the sexual abuse.Speaking on Tuesday she said: "I had a fear of bringing shame onto my family, I was controlled and ultimately, I was scared of what the consequences of speaking out would actually do."Mother-of-five Vardy, 41, claimed she was sexually abused by an individual in the community between the ages of 11 to 15, which she claimed was covered up by 'elders', senior male religious leaders.

Speaking about her experience she said: "Honestly, I felt like I was dealing with this myself, I feel like I've dealt with this myself for literally my whole entire life. "Looking back on my childhood it was really different, I felt isolated, I felt alone, I was bullied quite badly as a child because we were made to feel different, we weren't allowed to be seen as the same as everyone else, the same as what Jehova's