The shame shouldn't be on our side

Self-harm, body dysmorphia and assault have fuelled television's Ashley James's rallying cry for women in her first book, Bimbo.

- By HANNAH STEPHENSON

ASHLEY James has gone from reality TV to a feminist campaigner and social commentator on ITV's This Morning in little more than a decade.

These days, the former Made In Chelsea star is more likely to be in a studio sparring with the likes of Piers Morgan over topical issues than shopping on the King's Road, although that wouldn't have been in her budget when she appeared in the E4 reality show in 2012.

Although she wasn't wealthy and privileged like her costars - born in Northumberland, the daughter of a hard-grafting dairy farmer and hairdresser, who latterly sold up to run a B&B - she had a posh accent, thanks to her subsidised boarding school education.

But since her reality TV days, Ashley, 38, has pursued the less frivolous side of TV to find a more serious platform as a feminist fighting for female empowerment and social justice.

She has now issued a rallying cry for women in her new book Bimbo, a phrase sometimes fired at her during her younger days because she was attractive and considered 'stupid' by some.

In the book, she rages about sexism, misogyny and all the attitudes which discriminate negatively against women, the damaging societal norms which sap their confidence and self-esteem, recalling stories about her own body dysmorphia, self-harm, relationship breakdowns, infidelities, initially hating life as a mum and the poor maternal mental health which left her feeling suicidal.

She also says publically for the first time that she was raped while at university.

"We paint people who commit sexual assault or rape as strangers in dark alleyways, but more often than not, and statistically, it's people we know," Ashley says now.