Nolan defends offer to pay for son’s sex trip

Jane Kirby

The mother of three said she would allow 15-year-old Shane to go on a sex trip to Amsterdam.

Her ex-husband, EastEnders star Shane Richie, said he was "disgusted and appalled" by her comments about their son on ITV1 show, Loose Women.

The Dublin-born former Nolans singer, 40, also told the shocked audience she had given her fiancé Ray Fensome permission to have a one-night stand during the proposed trip.

Yesterday, she said she was amazed by the fuss her remarks had caused particularly comments by Miriam Stoppard who said "the world's gone insane" and that Nolan seemed to be shirking her responsibilities to deliver sex education.

Nolan said: "This whole thing came about because Shane is taking his GCSEs and I said if you do really well in them, I will pay for you, for a long weekend, to go anywhere you want to go.

"His first reaction was, 'Mum, me and my mates have always wanted to go to Amsterdam to see the red light district'.

"I didn't say, 'If you get five GCSEs, I'll send you to Amsterdam to sleep with a prostitute'."

She added: "If he planned to go on a trip to Ibiza everybody would have thought that was fine, even though he would probably have unprotected sex with lots of girls. Everyone thinks that's OK, but as soon as you mention prostitute and the words 'paying for it', everyone is, like, 'gasp'," she said.

But Richie, who split with Nolan in 1997 said: "I can only think she said this for shock value, and I hope and assume it was said in total jest. I can assure everyone that having passed his GCSEs fingers crossed Shane Jr will not be going to Amsterdam."

Nolan stunned co-presenters and the audience on Tuesday by revealing that she had offered to finance the trip.

"I said, 'Ray will have to go with you', and he said, 'Well then, Ray might sleep with a prostitute too'. I said, 'Oh, that's all right, it's only a prostitute'."