In 2002, Charlotte Church was just 16 years old when former Radio 1 DJ Chris Moyles made a joke about taking her virginity live on air. It's a moment that hasn't aged well. And now, 21 years later, speaking to Kathy Burke in her new two-part series Kathy Burke: Growing Up that aired on Channel 4 this week, Charlotte addressed the comment with hindsight.
Back then, the Radio 1 DJ said he wanted to 'lead her through the forest of sexuality now she had reached 16' while hosting her on the show on her 16th birthday. Kathy asks the Welsh singer, now 37, if that marked the moment people started to speak and write about her differently, which Charlotte confirms. She says in that moment 'there was just this sort of shift and I became fair game'.
In 2007, five years after the 16th birthday incident, Chris actually appeared on The Charlotte Church Show and described his earlier remark as 'actually very sweet'. On Kathy's show, Charlotte doesn't view it in the same light.
She said, 'it wasn't good, but at least it was out in the open. That lads, lads, lads culture was dominant. It was very simplistic, it was unashamed, it was just out there and everybody knew what it was. But now it's become more underground, and moredangerous.'
Chris has been criticised for making controversial and offensive remarks several times over the years. He was accused of bullying, for saying he wanted to 'tear [broadcaster Neil Fox's] head off and poo down his neck' in 2002, for violating the Ofcom Broadcasting Code Rules for calling female listeners 'dirty whores' in 2006, and for homophobia the same year, where he called a ringtone he didn't like 'gay'. These complaints, alongside many others, led to Chris losing his spot on the Radio 1 breakfast show in 2012 – he was replaced by Nick Grimshaw.
When Chris made the sexist remarks towards Charlotte, the Broadcasting Standards Commission upheld the complaint of a listener who said the comments were inappropriate, but the impact they had were immeasurable. Charlotte has previously spoken about the pressure she felt to present a hyper-sexualised image of herself in the music industry. Delivering the Radio 6 Music John Peel lecture in 2013, she said: 'The culture of demeaning women in pop music is so ingrained as to become routine, from the way they are dealt with by management and labels, to the way they are presented to the public.' Charlotte added that women 'are encouraged to present themselves as hyper-sexualised, unrealistic, cartoonish, as objects, reducing female sexuality to a prize you can win'.
Kathy Burke: Growing up, out now on All4, explores what growing old means to us, whether sexual maturity is the point at which people become adults and the new freedoms that young people have today. Kathy also speaks to Jennifer Saunders and Bill Bailey in the programme, as well as a woman who became a dominatrix in her 60s.