Kim Woodburn was brash, loud and famously controversial.
The How Clean Is Your House? star was never afraid to shy away from a public feud, most famously when she branded fellow Big Brother star Coleen Nolan ‘lying trash’.
But the lashings of public opprobrium she received as a consequence were nothing compared to the suffering Woodburn had gone through as a child and younger woman.
The star, who has died aged 83 after a short illness, previously revealed how she buried her stillborn son in a park after he was born four months early.
And she also detailed the shocking abuse and neglect inflicted on her by her mother, who she described as a ‘vicious alcoholic’; whilst her first husband was allegedly ‘abusive’.
Years later, on TV in 2017, Woodburn alleged that her father had sexually abused her.
Such revelations were a world away from her popular TV image as a confident star; one who found fame through hard work after being plucked from obscurity while working as a cleaner and housekeeper.
Her double act with Aggie MacKenzie proved hugely entertaining; as Britons lapped up the sight of the pair discovering and blitzing dirt and grime in ordinary homes.
Kim Woodburn was brash, loud and famously controversial. Above: With How Clean Is Your Hous co-star Aggie Mackenzie (left)
Kim Woodburn as a toddler with her older sister Gloria, who was known as Gezzie
Woodburn made the shocking admission about her stillborn son in her 2006 autobiography, Unbeaten.
She told how, as a frightened and confused 23-year-old in February 1966, she gave birth to the premature and stillborn boy alone in her flat, and was too embarrassed to seek medical help.
Having given birth, she laid the baby in a bowl next to her bed and went to sleep.
The following night, she went to a nearby park in Liverpool and buried the child, with tears streaming down her face. She then kept the episode secret.
Police later said that they were examining her revelations because it is a criminal offence to conceal the birth of a baby.
Woodburn was interviewed by officers but not charged.
She wrote in Unbeaten: ‘The poor little soul was so beautiful. In my confused state, I still felt this was my sole responsibility. I had never felt so wretched in my life.’
Describing the moment she buried her son, who was born four months early, she wrote: ‘I lowered my precious boy in and wrapped the towel around him before slowly replacing the earth.’
Kim Woodburn’s alcoholic mother, Pat. The star described her as a ‘vicious alcoholic’
Kim – whose full name is Patricia Mary Woodburn – only launched her TV career at the age of 60 and previously worked as a cleaner, while she also dabbled in modelling (pictured in 1968)
She is survived by her husband Peter Woodburn (both pictured in 2010)
Kim was last seen publicly at the funeral of RuPaul’s Drag Race star The Vivienne in Denbighshire, Wales, on January 27 alongside her husband Peter
She described the event as the worst night of her life. She also told how she would still ‘talk’ to her child and added: ‘The deep sadness doesn’t go away.’
Born in Eastney, Hampshire, in March 1942 to parents Pat and Ron Mackenzie, Woodburn’s early life was marked by upheaval and trauma.
She told in her autobiography that her mother ‘deprived me of the love and security a child ought to have.’
Woodburn claimed that the very fact that she was a girl was seen by her parents as her first ‘crime’.
Her mother would ‘regularly’ brand her a ‘little b****’ and tell her that if she could ‘send her back’ she would.
She and her sister Gloria, who was 19 months older than her and known as Gezzie, were sent to live with their grandmother after their mother ‘took off’ with one of her philandering father’s friends.
And when that arrangement proved too taxing, the sisters were sent to a foster home.
Their mother would turn up every few weeks ‘without warning’ to ‘claim us back’, Woodburn said.
Known as the ‘Queen of Clean’, Kim rose to fame as the co-host of Channel 4 ‘s popular series How Clean is Your House? (pictured on the show with co-host Aggie MacKenzie)
The show ran until 2009 and made both women very famous. Above: Woodburn and McKenzie
Woodburn and McKenzie dressed up for How Clean Is Your House?
Kim Woodburn and Aggie McKenzie dressed up for How Clean Is Your House?
Kim Woodburn and Aggie McKenzie pictured for a special edition of How Clean Is Your House?
The star was also savagely beaten by her mother.
She recalled the ‘sharp intake of breath’ of an NSPCC inspector when he saw the bruises covering her back after a beating that her mother falsely blamed on her husband.
Woodburn detailed how she fled her mother’s influence a month before she turned 16, when she found refuge at the home her father shared with his second wife.
However, in 2017, Woodburn claimed that her father also abused her, including sexually.
Speaking on This Morning, she said: ‘My father was a Royal Marine. He was physically abusive. He would hit me with carpet brushes.’
Asked if it was sexual, she added: ‘Oh yes’.
Woodburn had more trauma with her first marriage, which she described as ‘abusive’.
The couple tied the knot in 1971 and divorced four years later.
It was in 1979 that she married Peter Woodburn. The couple, who did not have children, remained devoted to each other.
Kim memorably clashed with her Celebrity Big Brother housemate Coleen Nolan on Loose Women in 2018 and stormed off after a heated chat (both pictured with Janet Street-Porter)
In recent years, Kim became known for her very outspoken opinions on famous TV personalities, and took aim at her I’m A Celebrity co-star Gino D’Acampo in February
Kim appeared as a panelist on Big Brother’s spin-off series Bit on the Side in 2011 and then entered as a housemate in 2017’s celebrity edition, where she came in third place (pictured)
Before she found fame, Woodburn worked as a social worker and live-in housekeeper.
When her mother died in the year 2000, she and her husband were caring for the home of a wealthy German industrialist in Belgravia.
It was in 2002, when Woodburn was working as a cleaner for a family in Kent, that she got her big break in showbusiness.
Woodburn was put forward by a cleaning firm after Channel 4 said they were looking for a ‘really good cleaner with quite a funny temperament for a new series’.
She was chosen alongside magazine journalist Aggie MacKenzie to star in How Clean Is Your House?
The programme proved an instant hit and continued to air until 2009. Woodburn, now known as the ‘Queen of Clean’, became a household name.
She was a regular on shows including This Morning and Loose Women and also starred in reality behemoths such as I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! and Celebrity Big Brother.
She first appeared as a regular panelist on Big Brother’s spin-off series Bit on the Side in 2011 and then entered as a housemate in 2017’s celebrity edition, where she came in third place.
Kim (pictured in July 2017) appeared regularly as a panelist on This Morning but has spoken out against ITV in recent years
In recent weeks, Kim had cancelled her work commitments due to health concerns, confirming she would no longer be offering Cameo videos in a statement on Instagram on March 2
Loose Women star Coleen Nolan won and Irish pop twins Jedward were second.
The cleaning guru was regularly challenged over her angry outbursts and controversial attitude during her time in the Big Brother house.
Nolan and Woodburn fell out during the show, and Woodburn appeared on Loose Women in 2018 in an attempt to settle their feud but things quickly turned nasty between them.
Woodburn broke down as she discussed her traumatic childhood, before walking off the set and branding Nolan ‘lying trash’.
The clash sparked more than 3,000 complaints to regulator Ofcom, with the majority about how the Loose Women panel treated Woodburn.
Her stint on I’m A Celebrity saw her finish runner-up behind Gino D’Acampo.
News of her recent poor health emerged earlier this year.
She had been offering personal video messages to her fans on content-sharing website Cameo for £25, but paused selling the content in March.
She cancelled her work commitments and her husband is believed to have been managing her Instagram in recent weeks.
‘We regret to tell you that Kim is unable to record any further videos for the foreseeable future, due to a health problem. Kim sends her love to you all,’ a statement confirmed at the time.
‘No more videos for now, my loves, I need to get better,’ she wrote in an Instagram post shared on March 2.
Those were the final words Woodburn shared with her fans.
