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Prue Leith reveals SHE was traumatized after drowning litter of kittens when she was 11

The confession by 82-year-old Prue Leith, host of 'The Great British Bake off', has left the internet divided

EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND: Prue Leith, host of one of the most acclaimed cooking shows on television, recently admitted she once drowned a litter of kittens as a child. 'The Great British Bake Off' star made the confession in her newly released memoir 'I'll Try Anything Once', describing how the incident left her traumatised.

The 82-year-old wrote, "My mother and I, then 11, had just drowned some kittens and for weeks I imagined those poor dead creatures. Too many kittens was a frequent occurrence and there had come a day when my mother, unable to find homes for yet another litter, decided to drown the latest batch."

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Recounting the sad memory, Leith wrote, "My protests were met with a firm, 'Darling, it has to be done. They are only a few hours old. They will hardly know it’s happening.'" Despite her mother's reassurances, she said the animals "fought like the devil for life." Although her mother had a change of heart, Leith insisted on finishing the job. "I held the bag under water until the last kitten had stopped mewing," she said. 

While these revelations were shocking, the internet could not decide if it was a good thing or a bad thing. One user wrote on Twitter, "I don't think Prue Leith is quite prepared for just how hard she is about to be cancelled following those revelations. @Channel4 really need to have a long hard think on whether they want a self-declared cat murderer fronting one of their flagship shows about British baking." 

Another wrote, "@Channel4 If you had any sense you would sack @PrueLeith as she has openly admitted killing kittens. This is not the type of person who belongs on tv!!" A third chimed in, "@Channel4 @BritishBakeOff GET RID OF @PrueLeith. The show will be #cancelbritishbakeoff." A fourth commented, "I perfectly remember how I was at 11: it was close to 60 years ago and I would have refused to drown the kittens. Nobody would have forced me to do it. That woman had a choice not to perform such act of cruelty. She made the wrong choice."

However, not everyone was against the star. Some users spoke in her defence, stating, "So this was over 70 years ago. Admittedly not something that is done now, but probably common practice back then, not forgetting this would have been in SA. And she was 11 under orders from mum..... hardly a career ender." Another added, "It's entirely accurate that cats were commonly drowned when litters couldn't be homed. Neutering was not common place as it is now, so cats would often reproduce at alarming rates (as we see in Greece for example). This was considered the best option."

Prue Leith is the Chancellor of Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh. She was a judge on BBC Two's 'Great British Menu' for 11 years before joining 'The Great British Bake Off' in March 2017, replacing Mary Berry.

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