Vivien Walden spoke to Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby about her colourful life running a brothel with her famous footballer husband, Billy Walden.
She explained: “I was born a rebellious child and it was in me from a young age.
“I didn’t want to follow how it was in the Jewish religion that you would marry someone of the same religion.
“My mother instilled in me that the stage was where to perform but I chose a different stage,” Vivien added.
She went on to tell the This Morning presenters that she met Billy when she was a hostess in the world of Burlesque and the pair flocked to Manchester to set up their brothel.
However, as she explains in her new book, Eating From The Cherry Tree, Vivien admitted that an incident left her infertile and so her girls became her children.
Her world came crashing down when her brothel was closed down in 2009 and she was given a six-month prison sentence after pleading guilty to running an illegal business.
Before his death, Billy told her to continue running the brothel, describing it as her “baby”.
When asked by Phillip, 55, how she felt when the business was closed, she simply responded: “How does it feel when you lose your baby?”
However, viewers were outraged with her comments as the ITV show had just featured an interview with the parents of Bradley Lowery, who lost their son in July.
One posted on Twitter: “She did not just compare having her brothel raided and close to losing a baby?!”
Another added: “Such insensitivity when Bradley’s parents on same show comparing losing her brothel to losing baby.”
A third agreed, saying: “This madam on This Morning said her brothel being raided was like losing a kid. They had on Bradley’s family who actually experienced that.”
A fourth tweeted: “Did she just compare losing her business to losing a baby poor Bradley’s parents sitting in that building.”(sic)
This Morning airs weekdays on ITV from 10.30am.
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