Laura Whitmore on rough sex and cyberstalking

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By Helen Bushby Entertainment Reporter

57 minutes ago

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Laura Whitmore: “I’ve learned that you need to question things you don’t agree with and don’t understand”

Presenter Laura Whitmore is arguably most famous for her appearances on “soft-fronted” shows, like Love Island and Celebrity Juice, but her upcoming TV series couldn’t be more different.

It began as a documentary about bigots—young men who describe themselves as “involuntary celibates,” who hold misogynist beliefs, some of whom have launched violent attacks.

But this soon turned into two more episodes of rough sex and cyberstalking.

“Although I’ve worked on things that might have a fluff front, I’ve always dealt with dark situations – we all do in life,” she told the BBC.

Her goal was for the series to explore topics that are “really important, and I feel like they deserve it”.

The result was ITV’s Laura Whitmore. We see her flexing her editorial muscles, having earned a degree in journalism early in her career.

ITV’s controller of reality programmes, Jo Clinton Davis, said the problems in the series “feel like outlandish 21st-century threats emanating from, or exacerbated by, our online world”.

Whitmore hopes to offer a new perspective, saying, “I think it hasn’t really been looked at that way, from a woman known probably from a more entertaining and glamorous side.”

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Whitmore co-starred with dance partner Giovanni Bernice in Strictly in 2016

She’s tackled serious cases before, however, joining activists in 2018 to call for the criminalization of skirting, taking a photo or video under someone’s clothes.

Whitmore wasn’t afraid to tackle the documentary’s complex and often troubling subject matter, even if it meant putting herself in uncomfortable situations.

“I came into this to try as best I can to be as impartial—a blank slate—because it’s not necessarily my stories,” she says.

“I am a woman in her 30s who has certainly dealt with misogyny – but not to the extremes that many women and men have spoken to.

“One thing I’ve learned along the way is that you need to question things you’re not okay with that you don’t understand. And you can completely change your mind.”

In the episode of Cyberstalking, Whitmore reveals that she herself has been stalked.

She told the BBC: “I had an accident, and at the time, I was told, ‘It’s just part of the world you’re in; This is the work you do, “and it was common to deal with it.”

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Whitmore gained a lot of understanding of cyberstalking after making the documentary

Whitmore meets victims of online stalking and spends time with the UK’s first private stalking police unit, learning what can be done to properly tackle the problem.

She also talks to a technology company that helps victims by “hunting down stalkers” to reveal their identity.

“We are much more vulnerable than we know,” she says.

“People can reach us in a way I couldn’t understand before.

Not only are you chasing someone hiding in the bushes outside your house, these are ex-partners who still control Alexa in the house and the heat, and order pizza in the middle of the night.

“If you put all of those things together, it’s harassment. And I can see what happened to the victims. A lot of them don’t want to leave their homes now.”

Whitmore is not shy about revealing her vulnerabilities in the series, something that also came to light the day after her friend Caroline Flack committed suicide in 2020.

Whitmore remembers this incredibly difficult moment.

“I think I did it because I needed to do it if I’m being honest with you, at the time. I said what I needed to say. But I still don’t think I’ve quite dealt with that if I’m being honest.”

Image source, Getty Images

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Whitmore said Caroline Flack [L] “I like to love”

Whitmore also revealed that she received an unexpected response after being interviewed by a social media viewer in the US, for the documentary series.

She admits she was “nervous,” because he was openly misogynistic.

“I’m going to let myself be exposed, so I’m not going to lie. I was a little hesitant,” she says. “But you don’t get anywhere in life burying your head in the sand.

The guest did not show his face to her.

“I was really surprised…he was wearing a mask – that could be a very scary situation.

And then I left feeling sorry for the man I had met. It was not expected.

“This was a man who from a young age needed help and never had it.”

She stresses that while she is in no way condoning his opinions and videos, she did gain more understanding, after hearing him talk about his early life.

And I think when we understand why, we’re like, ‘Well, how do we stop that? Is there a way we can communicate with them and help them? “

“a little embarrassing”

Whitmore feels that “we’re not dealing with or talking about ‘hard enough issues’,” which is why she is so keen to bring up the difficult issues in her series.

“I know I’ve been in situations before where it’s easier not to say anything than to be uncomfortable. But I think it’s important to be uncomfortable,” she adds.

The rough sex episode is a case in point.

Whitmore explores his “dark side”, asking if “increasingly liberal attitudes toward sex promote sexual violence”.

We see her attending a BDSM workshop and filming a porn movie.

“I grew up in Catholic Ireland and went to a convent school, and you didn’t really talk about sex, and I was a little embarrassed,” she says.

“There’s a lot more conversation about the importance of consent than I thought, when it comes to talking about what we’re okay with — and not okay with.”

explain video,

Krista Gesta, sex activist and former Dominatrix, explains the rules of consent to the BBC

In the same episode, we see her meeting families and victims of violent sex.

Whitmore asks if BDSM culture has “gave men the excuse they need to get away with murder,” highlighting women killed by men who have gone on to claim in court that “a sex toy gone wrong.”

This episode had the greatest impact on her personally.

“I think it’s because I’ve spoken to many of the victims’ families,” she says.

“I started my career in the newsroom, and I always thought I wasn’t created for it because maybe I was too emotional as a person. I found it hard to walk away. And I still do now.”

I feel really protected

We see her crying on camera when she talks to relatives.

“I think with documentary filmmaking, it’s okay to have a little bit of emotion in there,” she explains. “But I found it really difficult.”

As co-producer, she was also able to tell the families and women I spoke to about the documentary as a whole.

“I told them, ‘Look, I’m going to BDSM workshops first but that has nothing to do with that part of it.'” So I felt like at least I had a chance to look at the edit and go, “Can we move this?”

“I feel really protective about how these interviews are viewed, how they are conducted.”

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Whitmore, who also enjoys working on entertainment programmes, has appeared on BBC Radio 1 to thoroughly discuss her time

Whitmore, whose career also includes hosting podcasts and starring in West End supernatural 2:22, says making documentaries was also about “claiming my power…and my personal autonomy”.

“I’m in my 30s now, so it’s a lot different than when I started on MTV in my early 20s.”

But she doesn’t think she can do documentaries full time.

“I still love to entertain,” she says, “I think I need both.”

“I just enjoy people. I enjoy telling stories. I find that cool.”

Laura Whitmore Investigates is available to stream on ITVX from 27 July

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