'We're all one bad day away from prison,' says presenter and activist Katie Piper

In her new series, Locked Up in Louisiana, the presenter spends a month in New Orleans Parish Prison - one of the most notorious jails in the US.

Here, she speaks to Radio Times magazine about her new series.

What's the view from your sofa?

"We sit in an open plan kitchen-lounge area to watch telly. We always have lots of snacks and a blanket. My husband [carpenter Richard Sutton] and I don’t argue over the remote. Our daughters are still quite young at seven and 11, so we watch one show a night, then we go up to bed."

What have you been watching recently?

"Con Mum on Netflix is fast-paced, sad, funny and shocking. I enjoy watching kids' TV with my children. You get to relive a lot of nostalgic things, like old Disney stuff, and you get to experience the new live-action Disney films together."

In Katie Piper: Locked Up in Louisiana, you visit female inmates at New Orleans Parish Prison. What did you learn from the experience?

"We’re all one bad day away from being locked up. You don’t know what’s going to happen to you in life and who’s going to harm you – and how you're going to react when somebody harms you."

In 2008, you were the victim of an acid attack. How much of your own story do you reveal when you meet these women?

"I go in with lived experience – as a woman, a mother, a daughter, a victim of crime. Some of my story is worn on my face. That was an advantage and meant the women probably trusted me, but some of them shouted stuff like, 'Hey lady, are you addicted to Botox?' or 'Slow down on the plastic surgery.' They didn’t know what had happened to me."

A lot of their stories involve abuse, trauma and drug addiction, which must be hard to listen to…

"Making a programme like this stays with you for ever. Part of you feels guilty coming home. They’ve just told you about their life and then you leave, and your normal life resumes. I’m a Christian and it did make me think that I might have gone to the US and worked at an in-prison ministry or maybe at a halfway house, if I’d not had my family or this career. My life could have been very different."

What led you to make Katie: My Beautiful Face in 2009?

"Authenticity – to be honest and open, to not be voiceless or repressed, to not have something taken away from me. That is my wish for all women."

You're also very candidly yourself online. Do you think that's important?

"Yeah, definitely. I have a responsibility as a public figure to be authentic, to not use Photoshop. I try not to seek external validation, and I am proud of how I look. Beauty diversity is broadening, and we should acknowledge the progress. I don’t have to edit myself or shrink myself."

How do you protect your children from toxic influences online?

"My kids aren’t celebrities, they don’t have an online persona. I saw Adolescence, and thought it was brilliant, scary and shocking. It showed that adults need to understand the online space, and keep educating ourselves."

Both of your attackers were jailed. How much of your own journey is about forgiveness?

"Even though I had this terrible thing happen to me, I come from a massive place of privilege that the people I work with in prisons, my own charity [Katie Piper Foundation] and hospitals couldn’t even dream of. I grew up in a loving, stable, secure family, with access to lawyers and doctors. I’d never moan about my life.

"For me, my journey is over. My case has had closure. If I was living in the past with something that happened 17 years ago, I wouldn’t be able to function at the level I do. I’m a healed woman who’s moved on. I live very much at peace."

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Katie Piper: Locked Up In Louisiana is available on Sunday 27th April at 9pm on U&W. Stream free on U.

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