Myleene Klass has detailed an appalling racist remark she was subjected to while she celebrated being awarded an MBE.
The 47-year-old is best known for being a member of the pop group Hear’Say, appearing as a Loose Women panellist and taking part in I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here!
Over the years she’s also undertaken extensive charity and volunteer work, including with World Vision, the National Foundation for Youth Music and St John Ambulance.
Earlier this year she was also appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2025 New Year Honours for her work on women’s health, in particular in raising awareness of miscarriage.
However, a few months on she’s now detailed how a ‘cis white male’ clouded her experience when receiving the honour at Windsor Castle.
Myleene – whose mother Magdalena was born in the Philippines – faced a derogatory remark from an unnamed male guest.
Sharing their exchange on Instagram, she wrote: ‘WCM: You should move into the Palace at this rate.
‘ME: “Because I spend so much time there these days?”
‘WCM: “No because all Kensington houses have a Filipino”.’
She went on to explain: ‘This was said to me by a white cis male at a work gathering for a cheap laugh when my MBE was being discussed and celebrated.
‘The fact this was the WCM’s idea of a joke is the worrying bit and also the reason I’m so proud of the positive disruption and representation I continue to evoke with my work and voice, and by just being “a bit brown” (yeah had that too).’
Myleene’s comments were posted over a screenshot of another person who had messaged her an insensitive comment that compared her to a maid.
‘You look so much like my maid when I was living in Brazil. It is interesting that any woman can be presentable when they have money. Well done!’ they wrote.
She went on to share: ‘This was said to me at Westminster. At a banker’s dinner in the city. At the school gates. “You look like my Filipino cleaner, maid, nanny. All honourable jobs. But interesting this is the only connection ever made.
‘I am Filipino. I am also liminal. Because our “in” to many countries has historically been through acts of service. We’re often only seen through that lens. That’s why representation and being a positive disruptor matter.
‘When you assume my role because of my race, you do more than make an ignorant comment, you limit and define me before I can define myself. That is racism. It is insidious. It is why I proudly walk into the Palace, into Parliament, into boardrooms and business meetings.”
‘Not as someone’s stereotype of a “good Asian girl” or a fetishised trope. But as myself, occupying space that was never intended for me – and making sure my children see that too.’
She concluded by stressing: ‘Representation is not symbolic; it’s survival and how we break the cycle so that our sons and daughters grow up unshackled by the narrow roles society has written for us.’
In 2020 Myleene – who was born in Norfolk to an Austrian father and Filipino mother – detailed the racist abuse she suffered as a child.
‘I had words thrown at me. On other occasions, it wasn’t just words, it was rock filled snowballs by a group of boys as I walked home, I had my hair cut in the school cloakrooms by some girls, later they threatened a lighter,’ she shared.
‘There was spitting. Why does your mum speak like that? Why don’t you have an accent? “I was born here. Yeah, but you don’t belong here”.
‘At college, I walked into the canteen only to have a group of students hand me their trays loaded up with dirty plates. You’re Filipino, you’re all cleaners right? Then the laughter.’
Myleene then explained she still faced casual racism, adding: ‘In the area I live now, “get a Filipino” is bandied around so easily when referring to getting a nanny, they don’t even realise they’re talking about a person, an actual person.’
In 2023 she also revealed she was regularly mistaken for her son Apollo’s nanny.
However earlier this year she spoke to Vogue about being incredibly proud of her mixed heritage.
‘My 15-year-old self would never believe what’s happening now. Filipinos are breaking through. We’re being seen. And it’s a really exciting time to be Filipino. To be celebrated. To say, this is who we are: talented, kind, resilient, joyful. And the world is finally seeing it,’ she said.
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