Richard Madeley: 'I couldn't give a stuff that my daughter Chloe was pictured smoking cannabis'



Richard Madeley has defended daughter Chloe's 'experiments with cannabis'

He has always insisted he is anti-drugs.

But Richard Madeley has now launched a passionate defence of his 21-year-old daughter Chloe, claiming he 'couldn't give a stuff' after pictures of her smoking cannabis at a party emerged earlier this year.

The 53-year-old presenter has dismissed the incident, which showed her sitting between a man's legs and inhaling from a bong, a pipe used to smoke the drug.

At the time, the pictures caused huge embarrassment to Madeley and his wife Judy Finnegan, 60, after they proudly boasted that Chloe and her 22-year-old brother Jack were 'incredibly anti-drugs'.

However, he has now claimed it was a 'non issue' because cannabis is 'not a heavy drug'.

In an interview with Star magazine, Madeley said: 'I felt sorry for her because a huge fuss was made of it - it was just a bong for f**k's sake.'

Asked if he was concerned when the pictures emerged he added: 'It wasn't something heavy, it was weed. If Chloe was a regular user, Judy and I would be concerned about it and rightly so.



'But she's not in any way a drug user, she doesn't come in smelling of weed, she doesn't have a problem.'

Richard Madeley and Judy Finnegan issued a joint apology after the pictures of Chloe were released

Madeley was then asked if he had warned Chloe not to take drugs again.

He replied: 'I'm not going to nail her head to the wall and say: "Sign here saying you will never ever in your life, on pain of death, have a toke on something', because that's stupid. It's a non-issue. Honestly? I really couldn't give a stuff."

Pictures of Chloe smoking cannabis emerged in February

Madeley's comments brought an angry reaction from anti-drug group, the National Drugs Prevention Alliance.

Executive councillor David Raynes said: "Richard Madeley is playing down the effects of drugs.

'Minimising the dangers of drugs leads to a change in culture and it's irresponsible. He shouldn't shout his mouth off. The fact is that cannabis does a lot of harm, especially to teenagers.'

Only in October, Madeley and his wife said they were both against drugs, despite having experimented with cannabis in the past.

When the pictures were published in February, Madeley and his wife issued a joint statement apologising over their daughter's conduct.

They said at the time: 'We've obviously spoken to Chloe and whilst we - like most parents - are aware that kids her age sometimes experiment, it is always a bad idea.

'However, she is an extremely sensible person, and now she knows that too.'

Madeley also defended his daughter's decision to strip down for a photoshoot in men's magazine FHM last summer when she posed in stockings with her satin dress provocatively hitched up.

'I thought she looked great in the FHM photos,' he said. 'She looked smashing, she's a pretty girl and she's got a lovely figure, I felt very proud of her.

'It didn't give me a moment's sleepless night. All our kids have done well and never given us any cause for concern.'

His comments come just ten days after it was revealed that Richard and Judy's talk show is being axed by bosses at digital channel Watch.

At its lowest point, just 5,000 viewers tuned in to watch the show and the last episode will now be screened on July 3.

Madeley added: 'It's not like a patient's died in the operating theatre. I know people expect us to be upset, but we're not. No one's died.'

Read the full story in this week's Star! magazine - out today.