Channel 4 star Steph McGovern has bravely detailed her ‘mortifying’ experience of having a period leak while in public.
The former Steph’s Packed Luch presenter, 42, was left on the verge of tears when she began bleeding while on an aeroplane, explaining the fear of feeling a ‘gush of blood’ as she stood up.
Steph admitted she was ‘in full panic mode’ while unable to clean herself up.
Upon sharing her ordeal with her thousands of followers, the journalist has been praised for ‘normalising’ conversations around periods and ‘sharing the reality’ that millions contend with daily.
‘Like lots of us, I’ve been having painful, heavy periods since I was 12,’ Steph began in her Instagram caption.
‘And that can mean hormones going wild, embarrassing leaks in public, crippling pain at work. Us lasses just put up with it don’t we? Now after 30 years I need a rant about it……’
She recalled boarding a flight down to London for work earlier this week, with the intention of going straight into a meeting to discuss a new TV show.
However, Mother Nature had other plans as, during the flight, Steph began suffering from stomach cramps.
She was on the fourth day of her period and had taken painkillers, so she ‘cracked on prepping for work, trying to ignore it.’
Upon landing, Middlesbrough-born Steph tried to ignore the ‘gushing’ feeling, as she was wearing both a tampon and a liner, plus, she had black jeans on.
‘Then another more powerful gush came and this time I felt blood running down my leg,’ she then shared.
‘I looked down and saw the blood, which was now on my white trainers. I was mortified. Not only was I surrounded by businessmen, I could feel more and more blood coming out.
‘I had no idea what to do. I tried to wipe the blood off my leg and trainers with my coat sleeve hoping no one would notice. Fortunately my coat was long enough to cover my body, but I didn’t know what was coming next.’
Steph continued: ‘From the plane I had to get a bus to the terminal and the whole time I was trying not to cry (or get blood anywhere else).
‘Eventually I got to the loo and was able to clean myself up as best I could. Thank god I had some spare knicks and trousers in my case!’
From there, she went to her meeting ‘pretending nothing had happened’ while also ‘praying it wasn’t going to happen again’.
Confiding in her fans, she acknowledged that such stories are ‘familiar’ for lots of people, expressing her hatred for how ‘we end up embarrassed’ about periods because it’s ‘not our fault’.
‘I know they are what help us have babies and I am very grateful for my little girl. But honestly 30 years of this (minus the preggers years). It’s a joke,’ vented the mother-of-one.
Along with her ranty caption, Steph shared a selfie of herself just after she had managed to clean up her mishap, along with a photo of the blood dripping down her ankle.
After sharing her vulnerable post, Steph was inundated with supportive messages, with Lizzie Cundy writing: ‘Thank you for talking about it and sharing with us all. Sorry you experienced this ❤️’
‘Nightmare. X’, wrote Dawn French, while John Whaite commented: ‘Well done you for sharing this. Sorry you experienced that 😢❤️’
Steph previously worked for the BBC as their main business presenter on BBC Breakfast.
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She then hosted Steph’s Packed Lunch on Channel 4 from 2020 to 2023, when the show was axed.