By james art The former children’s TV presenter spoke to William about her own experience of not being able to afford to live in her own home for the ITV1 and ITVX documentary Prince William: We Can End Homelessness, which continues on Thursdays at 9pm hours.
She told ITV’s Lorraine Show that she felt “too embarrassed to talk about it all and it kind of caught up with me” before becoming comfortable in recent years being an advocate for homelessness and being open about it, via which she passed.
Scottish TV personality Porter said: “It was good to know that he (William) just wanted to get behind him and help.”
Porter likened his experience to being a “hidden homeless person” couch-surfing at friends’ places while being in the spotlight when working “withered” and said the problem was unlikely to be solved but could to help him.
She said: “I think you know it’s not going to end, (this campaign) isn’t meant to end it, it’s got to make people aware of it and make it so it doesn’t go on for a long time.
“So if someone is homeless, they get the help they need and we can move forward instead of just saying, ‘Oh, it’ll be over in five years,’ because you can’t just do this in five years.”
“I just hope that people will tune in and understand what’s going on in other people’s lives, and that they’re just aware that people are homeless or hidden homeless.”
The Prince of Wales launched his five-year Homewards initiative last year, which aims to tackle all forms of homelessness, which “touches the lives of too many people”.
Porter, a Homewards defender, also recalls spending a night on a bench in London’s Hampstead Heath during a difficult time.
She said: “I was just going through a difficult time. I had lost my hair. The work wasn’t really coming in, the bills were coming in, and it was just one of those things. It’s funny that now that I can talk about it, they can happen to anyone.
“I never in a million years expected this to happen to me. “
Porter was first diagnosed with alopecia areata in 2005 and has also become an advocate for mental health.