This Morning’s Ben Shephard apologised to viewers after singer Lulu swore live on air. The singer, 76, made an appearance on Wednesday’s edition of the ITV magazine show to talk about her past struggles with alcoholism, but had to be interrupted when she accidentally used the profane language.

She told Ben and his co-host Cat Deeley: “It was never bad because I was never a fall-down drunk. My son didn’t know, he said ‘Wait a minute, Mum, are you sure…’ and Elton [John] said ‘How the f*** did I miss that?'”

Ben immediately cut in with: “Elton has an interesting vocabulary, we need to be quite careful because it’s quite early. Apologies, you’ll understand that it was Elton saying that and not Lulu.”

Ben jumped into the sad conversation to tentatively apologise for Lulu’s profanity ( 
Image:
ITV)
In response, Lulu said: “I’m so sorry, I am so sorry. Also, it’s me trying to push the story. How did I miss that?”

The Shout singer, who has now been sober for more than a decade, recalled not being able to know when enough was enough even though she seemed to manage to function in every day life.

She added: “I was very secretive, I was so ashamed of it. I would go out and have a drink, a couple of drinks. I would go home, and have another drink. You know you’re an alcoholic if you can’t stop. I have a lot of friends who have a drink and say ‘Oh I’ve had enough,’ but I couldn’t do that.

“I was a highly-functioning alcoholic, that’s why nobody knew. I would fall asleep sozzled. I’d set the alarm, wake up for work the next day, brush myself off and go to work.

Lulu apologised as well but insisted she was just trying to get the story across ( 
Image:
ITV)
“My sister – the day was 3rd November 2013 – I had a birthday party and everyone left except my sister and her kids because two of them live with me. My niece said ‘Oh so and so, he’s hanging on by his fingernails,’ talking about his problem with alcohol, and I don’t know where it came from, I said ‘He’s not the only one’.

“My sister said very kindly, ‘I know, and I’ve known for some time’. The cat was out of the bag, it was if someone up there liked me, I now had to get sharing. I couldn’t ask for help before but in that moment I looked at my sister and said ‘I have to go to rehab, don’t I?’ She said ‘I think so.’ I was there the next day.”

The Absolutely Fabulous star, who has also put her incredible showbiz story into her new memoir If Only You Knew and will also be heading around the country on tour, was on the verge of tears as she recalled her own dad’s battle with alcohol.

She said: “It really makes me sad when I think of my parents, they didn’t have the help that I had. My sister is a psychotherapist, she knew not to bring it up until I brought it up.

“So, the book is about that, which I’ve never talked about. But I also talk about Maurice Gibb, I talk about David Bowie. I’ve had the most unbelievable life. Young people think if you’re famous, you’re sorted. If you’re wealthy, famous…it doesn’t mean to say that your life is perfect. We all have trials and tribulations in our life that need to be looked at.