In her new memoir, Prue Leith, a judge for The Great British Bake Off, recounted a story that traumatized her to her core, even 70 years later.
As a small girl living on a farm in South Africa that was often inundated with new kittens, she was at one point made to drown a bag full of kittens that were hours old, as her mom had issues finding even more kittens a home.
She wrote:
"My mother and I, then 11, had just drowned some kittens… and for weeks I imagined those poor dead creatures."
She explained to HuffPo why she deliberately put the story in her memoir.
"I wrote about it honestly in my book, as an 11 year old it was an extremely traumatic experience, not one I would forget, however it is what happened 70 years ago.”
Reactions to the memoir and HuffPo article about it have been interesting, to say the least.
Leith is a divisive figure in the UK, being of the conservative party. People said knowing this will influence how they watch The Great British Bake Off (GBBO), now.
\u201cI can\u2019t watch #GBBO anymore without thinking about Prue Leith drowning kittens \u2639\ufe0f\u201d— Kavita (@Kavita) 1665005113
\u201c@LBC That\u2019s me not watching @GreatBritishBakeOff \nAnymore then.\u201d— LBC (@LBC) 1664702594
Others remarked there's no way they would put this into a memoir and then talk about it again.
\u201c@ladbible This is something (that if I was forced to do it like she say she was) that I would take to my grave. No one would ever know what I\u2019d done.\u201d— LADbible (@LADbible) 1664711278
\u201c@Independent WTH is she thinking admitting that publicly!?\u201d— The Independent (@The Independent) 1664717322
\u201c@LBC Ignoring the fact that it's an atrocious act in the first place, why would you feel the need to admit it later on in life?\u201d— LBC (@LBC) 1664702594
\u201c@Independent I guess that's one way to announce your retirement\u201d— The Independent (@The Independent) 1664717322
Some of the comments reference her membership in the Tory party explicitly.
\u201c@AlexanderPanda_ It was probably her initiation to joining the Tory party.\u201d— Alex (@Alex) 1664911974
Others just serve to illustrate exactly how she is not well-liked by many people on Twitter.
\u201cPrue Leith drowning kittens is the least surprising thing I know about her\u201d— cam \u2649\ufe0f (@cam \u2649\ufe0f) 1664961805
Another person this fact on top of the other weird stuff happening now.
\u201c@ladbible I have to say I didn\u2019t have \u201cPrue Leith drowned kittens\u201d on my 2022 bingo card\u201d— LADbible (@LADbible) 1664711278
What an awful experience for Leith to have.
And how interesting she would reveal it in such a way.
