Carol Vorderman is facing backlash for comparing her disappearance to missing teenager Jay Slater

Carol Vorderman has spoken about a time in her life that echoes the painful disappearance of teenager Jay Slater, reflecting on a time when she herself went missing.

The much-loved TV personality recalls struggling with grief after the loss of her dear friend and co-star Richard Whiteley, which led her to impulsively flee public scrutiny. Carol spoke candidly about going on a quest for solitude amid the grief of her friend’s death.

However, when she shared this story, social media users were quick to point out in the comments that Carol’s experience didn’t quite match the gravity of the current situation involving Slater.

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During an emotionally charged chat on LBC, Carol revealed how she isolated herself for an extended period, shutting out the world as anxiety grew over the whereabouts of the 19-year-old British national from Tenerife. With the search operation now in its eighth day, using mountain rescue efforts, local police, Gardaí and firefighters, the mystery deepens with little or no clues unearthed.

In an emotional moment on the radio show, Carol revealed her ordeal, saying: ‘Richard Whiteley died, and he died quite suddenly. Every day people talked to me about him, even though I wasn’t with him. love between us, but I couldn’t handle it, I just couldn’t handle it,” reports Oglinda.

Recounting a challenging time, she explained that her children were with her ex-husband at the time: “I couldn’t cope with being in the public eye, I just didn’t know what to do. I just had to disappear. I didn’t want anyone I knew around me, I just got in the car and drove until I finally found a hotel and I had nothing with me.

Conveying the seriousness of her situation, she continued: “I had my purse and then I locked myself, turned off the phone, all that. I stayed in that room, just to collect my thoughts really. So I do it. I understand when people say this is their only option, there really is no shame, that’s why I’m telling this story for the first time, there’s no shame, I think everyone has those moments. “

The television world was deeply saddened by the sudden death of Richard Whiteley, aged 61, from heart complications following previous treatment for pneumonia at Leeds Royal Infirmary in May 2005. Pride of Britain host Carol, now elderly 63 years old, he became a household name after joining. Countdown on Channel 4 in 1982, co-presenting with Richard Whiteley from the start of the shows until his death in 2005.

Reactions online to Carol’s LBC split varied, with one person commenting under the clip: ‘I don’t think this is the same unfortunately’, while another expressed her sentiment more strongly, posting: ‘I don’t think it’s same thing. work Carol!

Carol had previously shared with Piers Morgan how much she missed him, saying: ‘He was more than nice, he was funny, funny, funny. Every time we were in the studio together, I cried laughing. It was just a joy to be. with and I loved him not in this way, just a genuine, pure thing”.

The host then asked her a question: “If you hadn’t seen your career explode when it did, do you think it would have broken up?” To which she replied, “Probably not. I think he had an influence, yes, probably, we would be together.”

Carol continued her stint on Countdown for another three years after his death, but eventually parted ways with Channel 4 after failing to agree the terms of a new contract.