Kaye Adams has admitted she regrets not quitting her BBC Radio Scotland show before she was taken off air amid an investigation into allegations of misconduct, which she strenuously denied.
The journalist, 63, had hosted her own weekday show on BBC Radio Scotland for more than a decade. It was reported in February that she would not be returning to the BBC. Now she has spoken out, saying she is "kicking herself" for not leaving of her own accord when she had the chance.
Adams speaks on YouTube show
Adams made the admission on the first episode of Vanessa Feltz's new YouTube show, At Home With Vanessa. She said: "I probably allowed myself to drift into 60 thinking that I could keep everything the same and actually, I should have made some decisions in that I was very unhappy where I was. I should have left but I was scared and I kicked myself for that."
In response, Feltz said: "Oh really? Because I mean people who've been reading about you, which really people haven't been able to avoid doing in the last however about your the vicissitudes, I'm going to call them, of your career, will maybe not think that. They will maybe think you were really happy and um you know, they gave you the big E and you didn't want them to, but actually you wish you'd gone anyway earlier, do you?"
Adams declines to elaborate
Adams, who has been a regular anchor on ITV's Loose Women for several years and appeared on the very first episode in 1999, then refused to go into the matter any further. She told Feltz: "Yeah, and you're a great journalist, Vanessa, but unfortunately so am I. So I'm not going to say anything about that. But yes, that is the truth, and that has been my epiphany."
In March, Adams posted a statement on social media denying the allegations against her. She wrote: "I'm aware of malicious stories circulating about the reasons for my departure from BBC Scotland. I've been trying to keep a dignified silence but these attacks on my character are now so persistent, they can no longer go unchallenged.
"I categorically deny using a misogynistic slur 14 years ago, and I'm horrified at its invention more than a decade later. It is absolutely not a word I would have used. As for 'berating an intern', this is simply untrue. Regarding the allegation that I threw a pencil while alone in an empty studio, words fail me.
"I am heartbroken that 15 years of hard work and dedication to BBC Scotland is being reduced to this. There's really nothing more I can say apart from offer my heart-felt thanks to friends and colleagues - junior and senior - across the corporation who have sent their good wishes and support."
In March, the BBC told BBC News that it takes "any reports concerning our values not being upheld extremely seriously, and when required have robust processes in place to investigate."
