Kellie Maloney donating ‘significant portion’ of Big Brother fee to trans support group
Kellie Maloney will donate a “significant portion” of her Celebrity Big Brother fee to a transgender support group, it has been revealed.
The former UKIP candidate and manager of Lennox Lewis revealed last Sunday that she is transgender, and has begun to transition.
She entered the Celebrity Big Brother house on Monday, with leaks suggesting she would be “one of the most highly paid contestants ever”, picking up a rumoured £400,000 fee.
Heather Ashton of transgender group TG Pals – which has supported Maloney through her transition – told Fubar Radio that the star will be donating a portion of her fee to the group.
She said: “Kellie’s decision to go into the Big Brother house was based on the fact that as a transgender person, she knows what it’s like to have that huge struggle to become the person that you need to be.
“The actual payment is completely speculative – Kellie is donating a significant portion of whatever her fee will be to us at TG Pals, to enable us to continue our services for the hundreds of other transgender people and family members that we currently support.
“She thought that Big Brother – though it puts it completely in a fishbowl – would be an opportunity to educate people about what it’s like to be a transgender person in Britain today.
“The decision to go into the house was a last minute decision and she just thought that she might be able to do some good in raising the profile of transgender people.”
The Kent-based TG Pals, which works to support trans people through transition, is a “charitable not-for-profit organisation”, but says it is not yet registered as a charity.
Maloney attracted criticism last week when she said: “I’m not homophobic, I have gay friends… I still don’t think that children should be brought up in same-sex marriages.”
