Gok Wan: 'Writing book was horrendous'

Gok Wan has admitted that writing his autobiography was an "absolutely horrendous" experience.

The How To Look Good Naked presenter told the TV Times that he had been "annoyed" by the publication of an unauthorised book and felt "it was time to set the record straight" himself.

He revealed that his family questioned his decision but he knew they only "wanted to protect" him.

"My friends and family are very important to me and have my best interests at heart, but nevertheless I threw caution to the wind and did it!" he said. "I've still got reservations now, though."

He continued: "Writing this book is the scariest thing I've ever done in my entire life. I started writing it at the beginning of the year and then I backed out. I wasn't going to have it published and then I thought to myself, let's just see what happens. I sat down one day and ten weeks later it was done, so it was an intensive rollercoaster."

Wan went on to say that anyone who claims to have enjoyed writing their autobiography is not being honest.

"It was absolutely horrendous and anyone who says it's a purely cathartic experience is a liar," he said. "Writing about traumatic events in your life is actually much harder than being there the first time round because you have to relive all those moments and you know what the outcome is.

"The book allowed me to exorcise some demons and get things straight in my head, but the pain overtook that sometimes."

He added: "Part of me wants to say it was fine, but do you know what? It wasn't - it was really tough."

Wan releases Through Thick and Thin: My Autobiography on October 14.