The star shot to fame later in life but made the most of her time in the spotlight with her unfiltered, outspoken attitude. Here are five times Kim ruffled feathers
The sad news has emerged today that presenter-turned-reality star Kim Woodburn has died at the age of 83. The firebrand, who shot to fame on Channel 4’s How Clean Is Your House with Aggie MacKenzie, passed away on Monday.
Kim had been married to her husband Peter for 46 years, living with her ‘soulmate’ in Nantwich, Cheshire. In a statement, her representative said: “Kim was an incredibly kind, caring, charismatic and strong person. Her husband Peter is heartbroken at the loss of his soulmate.”
From being at the heart of the most explosive row in the history of Celebrity Big Brother to taking on one of the nation’s best-known TV presenters, the star was never one to back down. We take a look back at five of Kim’s most memorable moments…
READ MORE: Kim Woodburn’s real life tragedies that led to call from police with autobiography release
Tensions with Aggie
C4’s How Clean Is Your House? made household names out of Kim and Aggie but the duo famously didn’t get on all that well during the six seasons of the show. Aggie later spilled the beans on their fallout, saying that while the “friction” between the pair had made for good television, appearing on stage together was the final straw.
“We were doing panto in Brighton,” she said. “I was so shocked and upset and angry. I lost my rag with her.” Aggie revealed the pair didn’t speak for the last two series of the show and even said: “Kim was such a big, damaging part of my life. I feel she almost destroyed me”.
Kim, on the other hand, was uncharacteristically silent on the controversy. The star simply said she “never said anything derogatory about Aggie” and was “not going to start now”.
Celebrity Big Brother storm
Kim made a memorable appearance on C4’s Celebrity Big Brother in 2017, when she became embroiled in a heated argument with some of her fellow contestants, including ex-glamour models Nicola McLean and Bianca Gascoigne and former footballer Jamie O’Hara.
Never one to back down, the star warned them: “I’ll cross you so badly and you’ll regret it for the rest of your life!” before famously screaming at Jamie: “You’re an adulterer… you two-timed your wife and she’s got three kids!”.
Kim was removed by the show’s security to calm down the situation and spent the night in the spare room before returning the next day. She finished in a respectable third place in the contest, during the course of which she branded fellow housemates “filthy, dirty scum” and a “chicken livered bunch”.
Loose Women walk-off
Another show to face Kim’s wrath was ITV’s Loose Women. She had fallen out with Coleen Nolan on Celebrity Big Brother after accusing the star and several other housemates of bullying and had been invited on the daytime show with executives hoping for a reconciliation.
Instead, Coleen told her: “You’re a horrible, self-centred, publicity-seeking witch”. Kim branded Coleen “lying trash”, raised her voice and stormed off.
There were a total of 3,000 complaints made to Ofcom accusing the show of picking on Kim. They included model Jodie Marsh, who wrote: “Having watched the Kim Woodburn interview I couldn’t not make a complaint! It was bullying, pure & simple.”
Kim vs Phillip
The TV icon had several on-air spats with presenter Phillip Schofield, who fronted ITV daytime stalwart This Morning for 21 years. At one point, she famously branded Phil a “big phoney” during a heated interview on the show.
The reality TV contestant had taken offence when questioned about her Celebrity Big Brother appearance, insisting to Phil that watching the 45-minute TV edit of the contest was not the same as living it for 24 hours a day. “Don’t think you are going to bully me, I have been around too long,” she told him, with viewers calling their chat “car-crash TV” and the “most awkward TV interview I’ve ever witnessed on This Morning”.
When the presenter wrapped up the chat by telling Kim it had been a delight to interview her she branded him a “phoney”. Six years later, when Phillip left This Morning in disgrace after admitting to an affair with a young colleague on the show, Kim called him “an obnoxious, horrible man”, saying “I don’t know why he’s still on television”.
‘Transphobia’ row
Known for being a gay icon, Kim was accused of transphobia in 2022 when she was interviewed on GB News and asked about unisex changing rooms. Her reply of “a man’s a man, a woman’s a woman” led to accusations of transphobia.
But the outspoken star hit back on social media, insisting her words had been deliberately misinterpreted. “During the show, we never discussed trans people,” said Kim.
“I have always supported the LGTBQ+ community, as you are all aware, and I count each and every single one of you, my friends. I will always be an ally to the community and would never say a bad word about any of you.”
