Melanie Sykes is forced to hire security guards as she insists ‘it’s not possible to go out on my own as a single woman’ without being harrassed by strangers

Melanie Sykes has revealed she plans to hire a security detail after feeling in danger during solo outings.

The TV star, 54, spoke on her YouTube channel about her need for protection after years of being harrassed by strangers, which she says is worse since she became single. 

The mum-of-two, who has largely retreated from her broadcast career in recent years, told her online followers: ‘I’d rather pay for somebody to have my back…It’s cheaper than most partners I’ve had.’

Speaking on her YouTube channel, Melanie explained that she values her privacy, saying: ‘I need a security detail when I go somewhere. It’s something I’ve suddenly in the past six months realised is what I need.’

‘When you are married and you’re out and about, or you are with a man, people don’t bother you and ask inappropriate questions. They speak to the bloke, and I have had that a million times even if I have been with a male friend, they talk to them.’

‘I still can’t go on big long walks on my own with my dog. It’s just not possible for me as a single woman. I wouldn’t do it.

Melanie Sykes has revealed she plans to hire a security detail after feeling in danger during solo outings as a single woman

‘The risk of being recognised and then… the amount of stuff that’s happened to me after being approached by someone I don’t want to speak to and then how very quickly the man is pi*ssed off. You’re immediately in danger because you’ve crossed a barrier.’

‘When you tell a man “I really don’t want to talk to you” they get f**ed off, and it’s scary. And so I need security detail, and I need to work out how to do that.’ 

Mel, who is a mum to sons Roman, 23, and Valentino, 21, from her first marriage to actor Daniel Caltagirone, said she is happily single and isn’t looking for a new relationship.

She added: ‘Some people have their partners. I don’t have nor want a partner.  My life is so fulfilled, you’d have to be someone pretty f***ing extraordinary for me to even notice you’

‘But it isn’t a criteria or priority for me so I’d rather pay for somebody to have my back and then I don’t have to negotiate for that person either.’

‘It’s cheaper than most partners I’ve had. It’s a necessity, it really is.’

In 2022 Mel ended her romance with gondolier Riccardo Simionato, who was 22 while she was 50.

Before that she had been married to Jack Cockings, who was 16 years younger than her, and she also dated German golf pro Martin Kaymer, who was 14 years her junior.

The mum-of-two told her online followers: ‘I’d rather pay for somebody to have my back…It’s cheaper than most partners I’ve had’

The star is best known for the Boddingtons advert in the 1990s and as the co-host of Today with Des and Mel in the early 2000s. 

Between 2011 and 2014, Melanie presented ITV’s Let’s Do Lunch alongside Gino D’Acampo but quit television for good in 2021.

Last month Mel blasted her former co-host Gino as she admitted ‘the industry has created monsters’.

Gino’s former co-host Melanie urged TV bosses to take responsibility and ‘clean out’ their ‘misogynistic’ talent, amid a series of ‘misconduct’ allegations surrounding the chef.

Reflecting on her turbulent 24 years working in television on her YouTube channel, the mother-of-two said: ‘Celebrity Juice was an abomination, the industry creates monsters.

‘I remember once when Gino said to me he can just go up to the powers that be and knock on the door and go in, he doesn’t need a meeting.

‘He was quite pleased with himself that he could do that.

Mel, who is a mum to sons Roman, 23, and Valentino, 21, from her first marriage to actor Daniel Caltagirone(pictured in 2009), said she is happily single and isn’t looking for a relationship 

In May 2013, Melanie married roofer Jack Cockings who was 15 years her junior in a glamorous ceremony at Sherborne Castle in Dorset

‘I feel like I was in a war zone in that industry – 24 years of battling through an industry that didn’t feel right to me anyway.

‘If you’re spending all your time cleaning up people’s s***, just clean the house, clean out the house and start again, that’s all I’m saying.’

Gino is currently facing numerous allegations of inappropriate and intimidating behaviour spanning over 12 years.