Katie Piper found it exhausting filming Locked Up in Louisiana
Katie Piper found filming 'Locked Up in Louisiana' "so exhausting" after meeting so many women.
Katie Piper found filming 'Locked Up in Louisiana' "so exhausting".
The 41-year-old presenter headed to New Orleans Parish Prison in the US state to film her documentary 'Locked Up in Louisiana' to delve into the lives of women in the prison and admits that working on the U+W show proved emotionally draining.
She told The Radio Times: "One filming day would be so exhausting mentally because you'd start getting close to these women in some places, having fun with them, and then empathising with them and hugging them and crying with them.
"And then you'd go to a place of being angry with them and cross with them, and then they'd show a lack of remorse, and then you'd dehumanise them. And then you go back around full circle. By the time you left, you'd be like, 'Oh my god, I'm exhausted.'"
The 'Loose Women' panellist was only meant to be filming in the USA for a few weeks but the trip was extended to one month after she met more and more women and listened to their stories.
She explained: "I wanted to go and meet these women and understand their individual stories, and not just the crime that led them to be incarcerated, but their whole lives leading up to that crime.
"It ended up having to be five episodes and I ended up staying out there for an entire month, because every single woman was different, and it was completely fascinating, and it made you realise that you are no different to them, and you are one bad day or one choice or one decision from being incarcerated yourself.
"Some of these women never thought they'd find themselves there either, and it was just a very life-changing project for me, beyond just making a programme or it being a job."
The former 'Strictly Come Dancing' star also went on to explain how prison life was very intense.
She said: "A month isn't that long, but one or two days in prison is almost like two or three weeks in the outside world.
"Everything is intensified and everything is fast-tracked, and the women are lacking so much. They're lacking connection, they're lacking intimacy, they're lacking relationships. So once you're in their trust, they really do open up to you."
