Freddie Starr storms out of television interview about sex abuse claims ordeal after he's asked if his behaviour could ever have been 'misinterpreted'

Starr, 71, ripped off mic and left interview at his home with Susanna Reid

Told Good Morning Britain presenter to leave property as he stormed off



Reid asked whether he'd done 'anything that could've been misinterpreted'

After short break he returned to interview with wife Sophie, 33, next to him

During interview he slurred his words as he said ordeal left him wrecked

Last week comedian was told he faced no charges on 13 claims of abuse

Starr had spent 18 months of bail before sex case against him was dropped

Branded women who made complaints against him 'ghosts'

Distanced himself from Max Clifford, calling him a 'different animal'

'It's changed him. With his daughter, at one point he was scared to even cuddle her', his wife Sophie said

Starr also said: 'You shouldn't be named until you are charged'



Freddie Starr has stormed out of a television interview after he was asked whether his behaviour during his 50-year career 'could have been misrepresented' as sexual abuse.

The 71-year-old TV entertainer was furious with Good Morning Britain presenter Susanna Reid and ordered her to leave his home.



Last week he was released from bail more than 18 months after his first arrest for sex offences, an ordeal which left him suicidal and a physical wreck.

The comedian today said he walked away from the interview because he felt 'persecuted'.

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Anger: Freddie Starr walked out of an interview broadcast today after being asked whether his behaviour had ever been 'misinterpreted' by women

Upsetting: Mr Starr repeatedly asked Susanna Reid is she was 'serious' after she asked him about the abuse claims. When she said 'yes' he ripped off his microphone and left

Demand: The comedian also told the presenter to leave his house immediately - but later returned with his wife to continue the interview

In a pre-recorded interview broadcast this morning Starr ordered Good Morning Britain presenter Susanna Reid to leave after she asked whether he had done 'anything that could have been misinterpreted' in his past relationships.

'Are you being serious?', Starr replied, before removing his microphone and walking out of the room.

The veteran comic later returned with his wife Sophie to continue the interview.

'It's hard to have an interview like this with it being so raw,' Starr told the programme.

'I've only been released three days ago, I'm just catching up on my sleep.'

On Twitter today he wrote: 'I’ll always stand by my principles, I’ve been persecuted for almost 2 years and I wouldn’t allow to (be) persecuted again on @GMB.



'The police unturned every stone, I wouldn’t of been let go if there was sufficient evidence. Still now I feel I am being persecuted!'.

Return: Starr came back with his wife Sophie, who said the investigation had scarred him, and left him scared to cuddle his own daughter

Row: Mr Starr had asked Ms Reid 'are you serious?' and she said 'yes', so he ended the interview



Anger: Freddie Starr used Twitter to justify why he had walked away from the Good Morning Britain interview

Starr, 71, was first arrested in November 2012, then rearrested three further times in April last year and January and February this year.



But the case against him was dropped this week when prosecutors said there was insufficient evidence to support the claims of 13 women that he molested them up to 40 years ago, which he has always denied.



After looking frail in a press conference outside his home in Studley, Warwickshire last week, Starr has said having the case hanging over him has taken a devastating toll on his health, and also appeared to slur his words at times during today's broadcast interview.

Starr, who says he has suffered four heart attacks in the past, said the sleepless nights and stress hit his health and left him considering suicide.

His wife Sophie Lea, 33, has been looking after him and, at one point, had to check on him regularly to ensure he didn't try to take his own life.

During today's interview, Starr claims that he did not know the women who made the complaints against him, branding them 'ghosts'.

He insists he has been 'innocent all along' and felt the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) wanted to 'put something there'.

'If they could've prosecuted me - they certainly would've done,' he said.

He added: 'You shouldn't be named until you are charged'.

Struggle: Freddie Starr outside his home in Warwickshire last week week after the CPS confirmed that he will not be charged as part of Operation Yewtree due to insufficient evidence

Compensation: Starr (right), 71, and his lawyer Dean Dunham (left), both said he would mount a legal case against police

Starr, pictured at his home after his first arrest in 2012, says his 18 months on bail have been 'mental torture', which has wrecked him physically and mentally

Starr also distanced himself from Mx Clifford, who achieved widespread fame with his links to The Sun's infamous Freddie Starr Ate My Hamster story, after the PR guru was jailed for eight years earlier this month for a string of indecent assaults.

'Max Clifford was a different animal,' Starr said.

'I didn't like Max Clifford - I didn't go out with him, I didn't do anything with him.'

Starr was the second celebrity to be arrested by Scotland Yard’s Operation Yewtree when he was held on November 1, 2012. He was re-bailed nine times as the controversial investigation engulfed a series of celebrities.



The comedian accused police and prosecutors of ‘playing dirty’ by associating him with known paedophiles Jimmy Savile and Gary Glitter.



He suspects the announcement of charges being dropped was delayed by the Clifford case, because his notorious front page story – ‘Freddie Starr ate my hamster’ – featured in the evidence.



But prosecutors insist they only made their final decision at the end of last week and did not receive a full case file from police until March.

Freddie Starr and his wife Sophie in 2011. Starr will not be prosecuted after spending 18 months on bail Comedian Starr at the height of his fame, pictured two decades ago in 1997 (left) and 1995 (right)



Starr's wife Sophie, 33, says her husband was scared to cuddle his own daughter during the Operation Yewtree investigation into him.

'It's changed him as a man,' she says.

'It's like even the little things like with his daughter, at one point he was scared to even cuddle her because you've got the world judging you.

'I know Freddie will come back from this.

'I would say he is one of the most caring, gentle men that you can ever meet. He'd do anything for anybody. And the fact is that for him to be accused of this, thank God it is now over, people can start to see the true Freddie and not the person that was portrayed in the media because it's not him at all.'