Loose Women’s Kelle Bryan has taught her son Regan about her experiences with racism

Kelle Bryan has revealed she taught her son about slavery and told him about her own experiences of racism when he was discriminated against aged five.

The Loose Women panellist, 46, spoke candidly with The Mirror on Wednesday about how she reacted to her son being told by another child he couldn’t play with a toy because ‘he was brown’.

While she claimed the matter was dealt with immediately, Kelle said: ‘I educated Regan about slavery, I shared some of my experiences from my childhood and what I went through, I experienced a lot of racism growing up. 

‘I also took him to the slave museum in Liverpool. Now he handles things really well.’ 

In June last year, Kelle explained the shocking racial abuse her son experienced in full on Loose Women, saying he was told he ‘couldn’t play with a particular toy because he was brown.’

She detailed at the time: ‘He was told he couldn’t play with a particular toy because he was brown, I dealt with that quite fiercely because he came home and was so upset about it.

‘I raised them quite colourless but the world they live in doesn’t reflect that. Unfortunately he was told by another child that he couldn’t play with this toy because he was brown.’

Of how she dealt with the situation, Kelle added: ‘I went to the parent and I asked are you aware of what happened and I said I was so sad about what happened, not in an aggressive way, and the parent was so horrified that their child had said this.’ 

During her interview with The Mirror, Kelle also reflected on how she is examining the way a black woman and a white woman can be treated differently by medical examiners in Hollyoaks.

In a storyline on the Channel 4 soap, Kelle’s character Martine Deveraux is accused of being ‘aggressive’ after she is told to attend an appointment the next day, despite arriving before her white counterpart for the double-booked slot.

Reflecting on how the plot represents reality, she said: ‘A day in the life of someone like me means constant microaggression, judgement, having to prove myself. It is knowing the game is rigged, and not in your favour.’ 

The Eternal singer shares son Regan and daughter Kayori with her husband of 11 years Jay Gudgeon.

Last month, Loose Women won the Daytime Programme Award for the show’s first all-black panel special at the Royal Television Society Programme virtual ceremony.

Accepting the award, an emotional Charlene White, 40, said the victory showed that ‘anything is possible’, as the whole panel marked the achievement. 

The presenter was joined by Kelle, Judi Love, 40, and singer Brenda Edwards, 51, for the historic episode of the ITV lunchtime show back in October, during Black History Month.    

Accepting the award Charlene said: ‘I want to say a huge thank you to the head of daytime TV. Who’d have thought a conversation last year would have led to this? 

‘To the loose women, we love you loads. For everyone who doesn’t know, this was a special episode with all the black loose ladies which hadn’t been done before. It just shows when you nuture and grow, anything is possible.’ 

The judges said that the special episode had had a real connection with audiences. 

It came after ITV bosses previously found themselves at the centre of a race controversy when just one non-white anchor appeared on the channel during one day in October 2019. 

Over the summer, the network’s director of television Kevin Lygo pledged to improve representation of minorities within 12 months. 

He said soaps and dramas such as Vera would be targeted, adding: ‘We will have more lead presenters, lead actors on screen. There aren’t enough leads in dramas. That we have got to work on.’