Loose Women star Kaye Adams reveals she was groped by her boss in front of her laughing co

Loose Women star Kaye Adams has revealed the casual sexism she encountered as a budding TV presenter.

The 61-year-old described how she was propositioned by a boss twice her age.

She was also slapped on the bottom by another manager as she learned her trade in the era before #MeToo.

The mother of two disclosed on her How To Be 60 podcast that she also witnessed racism and homophobia.

She said of her experiences that 'you just shut up' rather than confront the culprits.

Ms Adams, who was born in Grangemouth, Stirlingshire, and hosts the morning show on BBC Radio Scotland, began her career at Central TV in Birmingham in the early 1980s as a graduate trainee.

Kaye Adams was propositioned by a boss twice her age and slapped on the bottom by another manager as she learned her trade in the era before #MeToo

Ms Adams began her career at Central TV in Birmingham in the early 1980s as a graduate trainee.

She later joined STV's Scotland Today and was one of the first journalists on the scene of the Lockerbie disaster in 1988.

But she said one of her first bosses showed little interest in her news skills when he made a lewd suggestion to her at the TV station bar.

Read More

JANET STREET-PORTER: What I REALLY think about Rishi after our bruising encounter on Loose Women - and why it gave him a taste of what to expect on the doorstep (unless he talks about his precious Adidas Sambas)

Ms Adams, who has daughters aged 15 and 20 with her partner Ian Campbell, said she was 21 or 22 while her boss was in his 40s. 

She said: 'I can remember ­standing there with this gin and tonic in my hand thinking, 'Oh, what am I gonna do?' And I giggled.'

The broadcaster also recalled having her bottom slapped and groped by a middle-aged manager when she was about 24.

She said: 'I was standing up leaning against a pillar and my boss, who was a bit older – he was the boss boss – came out.

'Everyone was terrified of him, and actually I really liked this man and he was really good to me. But as he walked past me he slapped my a*** and really grabbed my a*** and laughed as he went by.

'I was about 24 and I just remember that rush of embarrassment. My cheeks went red, I didn't know what to do. A bit of you is conflicted, but you didn't, you just shut up.

'He laughed and he walked out, and everyone else laughed.'

Of the times: The mother-of-two disclosed on her How To Be 60 podcast that she also witnessed racism and homophobia in the era before #MeToo

Loose Women star Kaye, appearing alongside Coleen Nolan, said her anecdotes were prompted by watching The Newsreader, the drama series set in a regional TV station in Australia

Her anecdotes were prompted by watching The Newsreader, the drama series set in a regional TV station in Australia. She said: 'It's exactly the era that I started to work in a regional newsroom.

'It was like going back to when I was 24. And the attitudes... casual sexism all the time, you know, slapping women's a***s and not even thinking about it, it's not even an issue whatsoever, which you look at now and you think, 'Oh, my God', but then you think, 'Jesus'.

'The other thing... casual ­racism and also homophobia.'