Vanessa Feltz reacts to controversy over ‘ignorant’ coeliac disease comments on This Morning

Broadcaster apologised to anyone who ‘misunderstood’ her remarks

Vanessa Feltz has responded to the backlash over her “ignorant” comments about coeliac disease on This Morning.

Earlier this week, the broadcaster, 61, appeared on the ITV daytime programme, during which she shared “advice” to a caller whose mother-in-law did not allow any foods containing gluten to enter the house due to one family member being coeliac.

Coeliac disease is a condition where the immune system attacks a person’s tissues when they consume gluten, which is a protein naturally found in grains such as wheat, barley and rye.

In comments that led to what has become one of the 10 most-complained about TV moments of the year, Feltz called the request “completely unreasonable”, adding: “So she’s treating coeliac disease as if it’s a kind of fatal, potentially fatal peanut allergy and that they can’t have anything with gluten in the house, which is completely unreasonable. That is not reasonable, Alison, at all.”

The following day, This Morning addressed the controversy by clarifying its messaging around coeliac disease and Feltz then responded to the backlash generated by her comments on her TalkTV show.

Feltz said she was “astounded by the reaction” and is “horrified that anyone is upset”, telling her viewers that she doesn’t “actually think” she “said anything that was wrong”.

“Let me just explain, this was a caller to This Morning yesterday, who said, ‘Oh gosh, I’ve got to go to my mother-in-law’s for Christmas Day lunch, my son is a fussy eater and there is a coeliac attending and my mother-in-law is insisting that we all eat gluten free.

“Then [I] said, ‘Well I’ve been thinking about it. In the spirit of Christmas, I think you should go. I think you should eat the gluten free meal that your mother-in-law is kindly preparing and, you know, if your son refuses to eat a gluten-free meal, I’m not sure why he should, then give him a picnic on the way there or the way home in the car.’”

Feltz added: “I did not, nor would I for a second, suggest they should put the coeliac guest at risk in any way. Nor did I suggest they bring their own food and shove it in their mother-in-law’s oven or put it on the table, I would not dream of that. Nor did I, in any shape or form, intend to disrespect or misunderstand how unpleasant it can be leading your life as a coeliac.

“Some of my best friends are coeliacs. And I spend a lot of time in Ireland, where a huge proportion of the population are coeliacs and suffering from coeliac disease. So I know how horrible it is if you should mistakenly find yourself eating something with gluten in it.

Vanessa Feltz apologised to anyone who ‘misunderstood’ her comments (TalkTV)

She apologised to anyone who “misunderstood” her intentions, and then proceeded to “shed light on the disease” by hosting a segment on how to live with the disease.