Ashley James, the broadcaster and former Celebrity Big Brother contestant who appeared on the show alongside Widdecombe in 2018, said in a post on Instagram that she was “absolutely devastated” by her death.
She wrote: “Ann Widdecombe and I couldn’t have been more different politically. We clashed a lot in the Celebrity Big Brother house, and there are many of her views I fundamentally disagreed with, particularly on LGBTQ+ rights.
“I’m very aware that many of her beliefs and where she gave her political vote were deeply harmful to communities and caused real hurt. Her views were deplorable.
“But she also had a profound impact on me in an unexpected way. After one particularly explosive row, she called me ‘a little bit of a bone picker’ and told me I needed to stop being so sensitive.
“At the time, I didn’t want to hear it. But she encouraged me to care less about pleasing everyone and to have more conviction in my own beliefs. I’ve spoken openly over the years about how much that advice changed me, because I used to spend so much of my life worrying about what other people thought of me.
“I also always believed that disagreement didn’t have to mean a lack of humanity. I never stopped trying to meet Ann with kindness, even when we fundamentally disagreed.”
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