83 Facts About Katie Hopkins

Katie Olivia Hopkins was born on 13 February 1975 and is an English media personality, far-right political commentator, and former columnist and businesswoman.

Katie Hopkins was a contestant on the third series of the reality show The Apprentice in 2007; following further appearances in the media, she became a columnist for British national newspapers, including The Sun and MailOnline.

In 2015, Hopkins appeared on the fifteenth series of the reality show Celebrity Big Brother, where she finished as runner-up, and hosted her own talk show, If Katie Hopkins Ruled the World.

Katie Hopkins has been accused of racism by some journalists, advocacy groups and politicians for her comments about migrants.

Katie Hopkins was permanently suspended from Twitter in June 2020 for what the company described as "violations of our hateful conduct policy", but her account was reinstated in November 2023.

That same year, Katie Hopkins joined the UK Independence Party.

Katie Olivia Hopkins was born on 13 February 1975, in Barnstaple, England.

Katie Hopkins's father was an electrical engineer for the local Electricity Board, and her mother was a bank teller.

Katie Hopkins was brought up in Bideford, attended a private convent school from age three to 16, played sports and learned to play the piano and violin.

Katie Hopkins instead studied economics at the University of Exeter, receiving sponsorship from the British Army's Intelligence Corps.

Katie Hopkins completed her military training at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, but had an epileptic seizure during the final passing-out ceremony, and as a result was unable to take up her commission.

Katie Hopkins said she kept her epilepsy secret while attending Sandhurst, as this would have prevented her from being commissioned.

In late 2006 Katie Hopkins was allowed to take unpaid leave from her Met Office job as part of her probationary period of employment to take part in series three of the reality TV show The Apprentice.

Katie Hopkins rejected Sugar's offer of a place in the final episode of the programme, citing problems regarding childcare provision for her daughters, and withdrew from the competition at the end of the penultimate task.

Four Weddings and a Funeral and Notting Hill writer Richard Curtis expressed his distaste for Katie Hopkins; while accepting his Fellowship award at the 2007 BAFTA awards, he jokingly vowed to kill her.

Michelle Mone, the founder of lingerie company Ultimo and a guest on the panel, criticised Katie Hopkins, calling her "exceptionally selfish", said she was not to be trusted, and accused her of giving "businesswomen a bad name".

In June 2007, Katie Hopkins lost her job at the Met Office, which said she did not meet the required standards to complete her probationary period, and it confirmed that her performance on The Apprentice and confessions about her private life were a factor in her dismissal.

Katie Hopkins later stated that the media were informed of her dismissal an hour after she was fired.

Katie Hopkins said in an interview with BBC Radio Kent that she had great respect for Sugar and that she believed she would have won the programme had she been in the final episode.

Katie Hopkins said that the media's attitudes towards her did not affect her but did affect her family.

Katie Hopkins made a similar claim of hypothetical victory in an interview with Fiona Phillips on the morning of the final Apprentice episode, although Sugar had said that if she had wanted to press on, he would have fired her, whoever she was competing with.

Katie Hopkins told BBC Radio 1 that she had not yet ruled out a media career but expressed interest in starting a business venture.

Katie Hopkins has appeared twice on Question Time, in the programmes of 10 June 2010 and 27 January 2011.

Katie Hopkins appeared on the Young Voters' version of Question Time on 20 October 2010.

Katie Hopkins appeared on an episode of 10 O'Clock Live on 24 April 2013, alongside Theo Paphitis and Owen Jones, to discuss the legacy of the former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher, who had died that month, and to debate tax policies and the division of wealth among British citizens.

Katie Hopkins's progress was documented by a camera crew and then played on a programme called My Fat Story for TLC.

Later that year, she began her own chat show, If Katie Hopkins Ruled the World, on the digital channel TLC.

Katie Hopkins said she wanted to bring a new approach to chat and panel shows.

From April 2016 to May 2017, Katie Hopkins presented a Sunday morning talk show on LBC, a London-based national talk and phone-in radio station.

Katie Hopkins had previously worked as a guest presenter for the station.

At a Church and Media conference in October 2015, Katie Hopkins said she was "pushing back the walls closing in on freedom of speech".

Since appearing on The Apprentice, Katie Hopkins has frequently featured in the media for making controversial remarks, being described in The Guardian, HuffPost, and MTV as a "professional troll".

Katie Hopkins has described herself as a "conduit for truth", declaring "what other people think but are too scared to say"'.

In 2019, Katie Hopkins presented the documentary Homelands which was about Islam in Europe.

Katie Hopkins continued: "We can commit to arm ourselves, not just with the help of the NRA".

In January 2018, Katie Hopkins joined The Rebel Media, a Canadian far-right website which Tommy Robinson, founder of the far-right English Defence League has contributed to.

Katie Hopkins subsequently stated that she had joined the social networking site Parler as an alternative.

In 2020, Katie Hopkins was the subject of a prank by Youtuber Josh Pieters.

Katie Hopkins flew to Prague to accept a fake award, the Campaign to Unify the Nation Trophy.

Since appearing on The Apprentice, Katie Hopkins has frequently featured in the media for making controversial remarks, being described in The Guardian, HuffPost, and MTV as a "professional troll".

Katie Hopkins has described herself as a "conduit for truth", declaring "what other people think but are too scared to say"'.

Katie Hopkins is in favour of a burqa ban and has labelled Islamic culture as homophobic.

In March 2017, Katie Hopkins gave a speech at a David Horowitz Freedom Center event in which she criticised Muslims, stating that a "Muslim mafia" controlled areas of Britain, and describing London Mayor Sadiq Khan as the "Muslim mayor of Londonistan".

Katie Hopkins has worked with the anti-Muslim Center for Security Policy, and has been described as a counter-jihadist.

Katie Hopkins has contended that immigration and multiculturalism are intended to make white people minorities.

Katie Hopkins visited South Africa to report on anti-white racism.

Hopkins has expressed her views on tattoos on television shows including The Nolan Show and If Katie Hopkins Ruled the World.

Katie Hopkins expressed a particular dislike for "lower class" names like Charmaine, Chantelle, and Chardonnay, which met with disapproval from co-host Holly Willoughby.

Katie Hopkins said that she did not like "geographical location names" either.

Katie Hopkins posted a tweet referring to Scottish life expectancy predictions based upon a 2011 NHS Scotland report, "Healthy Life Expectancy in Scotland: Update of trends to 2010".

Katie Hopkins said: "Following Independence I will only be the Biggest Bitch in England", and described people's reactions as "PC tastic".

Katie Hopkins issued an apology the following Monday, restating that her original remark was in reference to the NHS report and was simply bad timing.

ITV said on 5 December 2013 that "We have no plans for Katie Hopkins to appear on This Morning at this present time".

On 7 April 2015, Katie Hopkins made a series of tweets suggesting that people with dementia are "bed blockers" who take up scarce hospital beds and implied they would be better off dead.

Katie Hopkins's comments were condemned by leading British Alzheimer's charities.

Katie Hopkins wrote that gunships should be used to stop migrants from crossing the Mediterranean.

Katie Hopkins's remarks were condemned by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Prince Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein.

Katie Hopkins stated that Hopkins used "language very similar to that employed by Rwanda's Kangura newspaper and Radio Mille Collines during the run up to the 1994 genocide", and said that both media organisations were subsequently convicted by an international tribunal of incitement to genocide.

Katie Hopkins's column drew criticism on Twitter, including from Russell Brand, to whom Katie Hopkins responded by accusing Brand's "champagne socialist humanity" of neglecting taxpayers.

Katie Hopkins suspected that if any other contributor had written the piece, it would not have been published, and questioned her continued employment by the newspaper.

Katie Hopkins was questioned and not charged, and subsequently criticised the police for purportedly criminalising opinion, and stated that she would set up a Society of White Lawyers.

Katie Hopkins told the BBC's This Week that she loved his "bombastic rhetoric, charisma and populist appeal".

Katie Hopkins defended Trump's remarks that all Muslims should be banned from entering the United States.

Katie Hopkins stated that Britain is in part "radicalised" and "it does nobody any favours to deny the obvious".

In February 2018, Katie Hopkins was detained and had her passport briefly confiscated in South Africa for allegedly spreading racial hatred.

Katie Hopkins said the original was a typographical error.

The motive for the attack, and the background of the suicide bomber, was unknown at the time Katie Hopkins made the comment.

In July 2017, Katie Hopkins flew to Catania in Sicily to visit a ship known as the C-Star hired by the Defend Europe movement, which has the intention of hindering the work of "search and rescue" vessels in the Mediterranean used by charities such as Save the Children to save trafficked migrants and refugees.

Katie Hopkins tweeted, and then deleted, an image of herself with a Defend Europe activist present in Sicily at the time, a man known as Peter Sweden, initially reported to be an active Holocaust denier.

Katie Hopkins suggested that Chief Rabbi of the UK's "support for mass migration across the Med" explained the shooting.

Ankita Kulkarni of Logically commented that Katie Hopkins "has often negated the effects of climate change or resorted to fearmongering regarding measures aimed to reduce carbon emissions".

Katie Hopkins later admitted that she was mistaken about the identity but did not apologise.

Katie Hopkins sold her family home to pay the legal costs.

In May 2018, Katie Hopkins won an IPSO case against the Daily Mirror for claiming that she had been detained in South Africa in February 2018 for taking ketamine.

In October 2020, Katie Hopkins issued an apology after she was sued by Finsbury Park Mosque for inaccurately linking it to a violent incident in May 2020.

Katie Hopkins was selected as a cast member of the Australian Big Brother VIP series in 2021.

Katie Hopkins was sacked on 18 July 2021 while in hotel quarantine in Sydney after posting on social media that she had deliberately breached COVID-19 health regulations.

Katie Hopkins's visa was cancelled during the day, and she was deported from the country.

UKIP said in 2015 that Katie Hopkins was not a party member and, although she has reportedly applied to join on several occasions, her applications had always been rejected.

Katie Hopkins was married to another woman when they first met; she has admitted to having "stolen" him.

Katie Hopkins formerly had epilepsy; she was being hospitalised around once every 10 days in early 2014, she told Decca Aitkenhead.

Katie Hopkins tweeted a month later that the operation was a success.

Katie Hopkins applied for an individual voluntary arrangement in May 2018 to avoid bankruptcy, after the libel case brought by Jack Monroe.