Kim Woodburn suffered more than her fair share of tragedies in her life, including harrowing childhood abuse from her father and keeping her stillborn baby a secret.
It was announced earlier today (June 17) that Kim had died at the age of 83. The outspoken star was an icon, who brought us many memorable showbiz moments.
But away from the limelight, the life of Kim Woodburn was tainted by tragedy. And, over the years, she opened up on some of the heartbreaking things she faced.
Stillborn baby heartbreak
In her 2006 autobiography Unbeaten: The Story of My Brutal Childhood, Kim Woodburn revealed she gave birth to a stillborn baby, three months early.
At the time, she was 23 years old and unmarried, and had just split from her boyfriend. She was five months pregnant in February 1966 and at her flat in Liverpool when she went into labour during “the worst night of her life”.
She shared: “My little baby was coming out feet first and I’d never been more frightened or in so much pain in my life. As I struggled with what to do next, I found myself taking a washing up bowl from the sink, throwing it on the floor and standing over it. Then I reached for a tea towel, wrapped it around the little foot and gently eased it further out of my body.”
The star revealed she held her lifeless baby in the tea towel, lowered him into the bowl and put it down by her bed. The next day, she went to work as normal, without telling a soul. Terrified of what her parents would think of her, she buried the child’s body in a park, using a spoon from the kitchen drawer to dig his grave.
“I put the baby on the ground and then knelt down and started digging with the spoon. As I gouged the earth, tears streamed down my face. I brushed them away with my dirty hands,” she wrote.
“When I felt I had dug down deep enough, I lowered my precious little boy in to the hole and wrapped the towel around him before slowly replacing the earth. When the job was done, I still couldn’t leave.”
I would never go back to visit the spot where it happened.
She penned: “I had never felt more wretched. I still talk to my son now. The deep sadness doesn’t go away.”
Kim explained that the police later contacted her, but eventually decided not to take any action.
She wrote: “Being an unmarried mother years ago was terribly shameful. You were a [bleep] and a man would only marry a virgin. It was a very sad part of my life. I would never go back to visit the spot where it happened. That would just be too much. I couldn’t do it.”
Sexually abused by her father
Years after Kim Woodburn opened up on her baby heartbreak, she revealed another horrific ordeal that she went through. In 2017, Kim appeared on Loose Women and revealed the horrific abuse she faced by her own father.
Kim admitted her dad, Terence – who died in 1992 – physically and sexually abused her growing up.
She told the panel: “My dad was a Royal Marine and he was a bit of a naughty man. He would have a bit of a touch of the old naughty bits when he could get away with it.”
Kim said she kept it a secret from everyone as her mother was also physically abusive and would strike her with “carpet brushes”.
Kim continued: “I was very young and I remember my mum used to beat me with the carpet brushes. I never told her, I didn’t know how to tell her. When I was a little girl, we didn’t discuss that thing.”
Kim, who was 74 at the time of the interview, admitted she would “never get over it” but she no longer let it affect her life.
‘Bullying’ claims and ill health
In 2018, Kim returned to Loose Women and came face-to-face with Coleen Nolan, with their feud well-publicised.
While she was on the show, Kim Woodburn opened up on her “brutal childhood” including the abuse and baby heartbreak. And she called out the “bullying” that happened to her during her Celebrity Big Brother stint.
Coleen nodded along and commented “we know”, while Kim was telling her story, which led to Kim walking off the show upset.
After Kim walked off, Coleen told the audience: “We have got members of our team with Kim backstage. We didn’t intend for it to end like that. And we were hoping – actually, genuinely hoping – for some kind of reconciliation. But that wasn’t going to happen.”
In her later years, Kim was plagued by periods of ill health. In the months before her death she was in and out of hospital for an emergency operation. She also took a step back from social media to focus on her health.
Read more: Kim Woodburn’s tragic last picture with ‘heartbroken’ husband before her death
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