Vanessa Feltz’s talk show has been hit with nearly 2,000 Ofcom complaints after a guest called a mother ‘selfish’ for wanting to breastfeed.
Earlier this year, the 63-year-old announced she was leaving This Morning after 33 years.
The broadcaster was a regular contributor to ITV, but now has her own show on Channel 5, which she has described as a ‘politics-free zone’.
However, after inviting fashion designer Karen Millen onto her sofa to speak, her programme has been hit by a wave of complaints from viewers.
Vanessa reportedly asked Karen what she thought about breastfeeding a three-year-old child.
Karen replied: ‘There’s no benefit, is there, for a child to be breastfed beyond six months really. I think it’s quite a selfish thing on the mother’s part.’
She went on to say: ‘I just think that’s not good emotionally for that child. I mean, what does that child do later in life?
‘The attachment – like you say it becomes an addiction and an addiction for that child too because they only know the boob. It’s just not normal, is it? I’m sorry, I find it very weird.’
Following the episode, 1,856 complaints were made to Ofcom, as some viewers also took to social media.
The most complained about Ofcom moments
Good Morning Britain – March 8, 2021: A discussion about the interview between Oprah Winfrey and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex received a whopping 54,595 complaints.
Celebrity Big Brother – January 10, 2007: This episode, which focused on the alleged bullying of Shilpa Shetty by fellow housemates, received 45,159 complaints.
Celebrity Big Brother – August 30, 31, and September 1, 2018: A huge 25,327 complaints were made following Roxanne Pallett’s allegation of assault by Ryan Thomas.
Britain’s Got Talent – September 5, 2020: Diversity’s performance generated 25,017 complaints after viewers perceived it as supporting Black Lives Matter.
Love Island – August 6, 2021: In total 24,921 complaints were made focusing on Faye’s behaviour towards Teddy.
Julia Hartley-Brewer interview – January 3, 2024: Julia’s interview with Palestinian politician Dr. Mustafa Barghouti received 17,366 complaints according to Ofcom.
@richardbuka wrote on X: ‘My god, Karen Millen is a moron. How do we live in a society where it is considered unnatural to breastfeed but ok to reconstitute freeze-dried whey protein from an animal that diverged in evolution from us 100 million years ago and shove that into a baby every four hours?’
@keyboardgirl8 added: ‘I thought Karen Millen dresses faded away in the 2000s. Glad I haven’t purchased anything from them in a long time, what an ignorant woman.’
@tichenekr also commented: ‘Can safely say I’ll never buy from Karen Millen again. Disgraceful.’
Since her appearance on Vanessa’s show, Karen has apologised, saying: ‘I know I’ve upset a lot of your viewers and that was not my intention’.
In a clip, she can be heard explaining: ‘The question was aimed at a three-year-old being breastfed and my thoughts on that and my answers reflected that, not the subject of breastfeeding.
‘I have three children and I breastfed all three of them up to six or seven months…
‘I think my issue was more on the fact as a baby breast milk is the best and beyond being a baby, growing into toddler, I just found it more difficult to comes to terms with how it would benefit a three-year-old..
‘And as a woman to women, I do respect your choices and I do want to support you…’
This comes after Vanessa was criticised for comments she made about people with coeliac disease in 2023, with her remarks being blasted as ‘irresponsible’ by viewers.
A caller named Alison claimed she was ‘being forced to have a gluten-free Christmas’ because her mother-in-law insisted the meal be void of gluten to cater to one person, who has to have a gluten-free diet.
Responding, Vanessa said: ‘She’s treating coeliac disease as if it’s a kind of fatal, potentially fatal peanut allergy and that they can’t have anything with gluten in the house, which is completely unreasonable.’
Following the segment, the charity Coeliac UK released a statement lambasting what was said, and also posted an open letter that the organisation addressed to ITV.
The tweet read: ‘Today on ITV’s @thismorning, coeliac disease was discussed during a phone in segment on the show. We are deeply concerned about the content and advice given to a caller attending a Christmas family event where all of the food will be gluten free to protect the health of a person with coeliac disease.’
Metro has approached Karen Millen and Channel 5 for comment.
Vanessa is available to watch on Channel 5.
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