Naturist headteacher hits back at claims she was forced out of job after being 'outed' for stripping naked
Former headteacher Christine Wright on The Great British Skinny Dip
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A naturism-loving headteacher has hit back at claims she was forced out of her job after being 'outed' for stripping naked by a 'busybody'.
The star of last night's Channel 4 TV show The Great British Skinny Dip, Christine Wright, 60, was reported to have refused to give up her love of the hobby - and had 'chosen naturism over teaching'.
It was claimed in The Sun her career was 'ruined' and in the MailOnline she was 'forced to take early retirement' as a result.
In the programme - which covered the antics of a group called the British Naturists who told MirrorOnline today they did not have editorial control - Ms. Wright explained someone revealed the news to her bosses to “hurt her”.
On the show she said: “It’s not something I ever spoke about at work but some busybody outed me.
“They rang up my employers and told them I was a naturist... to hurt me.
"It ended up with me taking early retirement. I’m not going to deny who I am.”
(Photo: Channel 4)
Media reports subsequently claimed that Ms. Wright had claimed her career was ended early after she was outed as a naturist.
But proud naturist Ms. Wright told MirrorOnline today: "I was NEVER disciplined, sacked, fired or anything else as a result of the busybody calling my employers.
"I simply experienced a lot of prejudice, which of course has its effect on ones' health.
"I was eventually granted early retirement on the grounds of ill health.
"I am not keen to talk about this as it is long in the past and irrelevant."
(Photo: Channel 4)
In the programme, Ms. Wright defended her passion for naturism, saying that many people have the wrong idea about it – with some even wrongly believing it has links to paedophiles.
She added: “All my life I’ve kept my private life, private – because most teachers do.
"You can come under suspicion if they know you take your clothes off in your private life.
"There are people who think that because I’m a naturist I must be a paedophile.”
Ms. Wright - who now spends her spare time helping the British Naturism campaign recruit new members after numbers fell from 1,000 to just 400 - further clarified those comments to MirrorOnline.
(Photo: CJB IMAGES.)
She said today: "I was simply pointing out in the documentary that Naturists DO sometimes experience prejudice and that we are in some ways where the LGBT community was 20 years ago.
"I now work for BN (British Naturists) as a Manager of the Legal and Campaigns groups.
"Among my duties have been intervention in situations where other naturists who work with children have experienced prejudice.
"So far I have succeeded every time I have intervened."
The documentary follows the attempts by British Naturism to attract people to public skinny dips held across the UK last September - and how they try to challenge misconceptions about the community.