The Chase’s Anne Hegerty: ‘As a child I thought: one day I’ll be famous, then they’ll be sorry’A little more than a decade ago, she was out of work and in debt. Now, ‘the Governess’ is one of Britain’s most famous quizzers. She talks about fame, feminism, Asperger’s and I’m a Celebrity
Rock bottom, for Anne Hegerty, came some time in 2008. Her work – as a freelance copy editor and proofreader – had dried up. “I had become completely undependable,” she says. “Publishing books, you need people to hit the deadline. I wasn’t doing that, so understandably people weren’t giving me work any more.”
She had been struggling with day-to-day life and debt; she was behind on the rent on her flat in Manchester and wasn’t answering the phone. “The housing association lady came round, rang the doorbell. I very carefully peeked round the door and she kind of shoved it open, walked across piles of unopened mail and said: ‘Right, we’re going to fix this.’”
