Television presenter Fiona Phillips, 58, is a regular columnist for the Daily Mirror, which Piers Morgan edited for nine years.
Speaking exclusively to Express.co.uk, the broadcaster laughed as she recalled how she secured her job while Piers was the editor.
She explained: “I love Piers! Piers gave me my first job… my column for The Mirror, Piers gave me that years ago.
“He sent me a message and I wrote him a really rude answer and he thought it was hilarious and said, ‘Do you fancy doing a column?’
“I did have to do a trial column before they actually said yeah, that was years ago.“
Fiona’s admission comes after she was quizzed on her breakfast television presenting past.
The mother-of-two previously fronted GMTV alongside This Morning star Eamonn Holmes, 59.
But insisting she wouldn’t want to reprise her role on ITV’s current breakfast show Good Morning Britain, she added: “I think Piers and Susanna are doing a good job.
“I don’t think it’s ever a good idea to go back. I don’t think it’s ever the same so it’ll be a disappointment for all involved.”
Reflecting on her time with Eamonn, she said the pair were often “told off” by producers for their antics.
Laughing, she added: “We had great fun, we spent a lot of time laughing and always getting told off by producers because we talked to much or when we ran over time and did things we wasn’t supposed to.
“But it was great, it was the number one breakfast show… no one came near us at the time.”
On what they got up to off camera, she added: “He was often in my dressing room… he’d go on a gossip rant.
“We spent a lot of time in our dressing rooms and we had great fun. We had the same working class background and we knew our audience.”
Fiona left her role on GMTV in 2008 after 11 years for family reasons.
She said: “It was the right decision because of my parents.
“My parents lived in Wales so I was travelling there every weekend and they was ill.”
The presenter’s late mum and dad were both diagnosed with Alzheimer’s.
Now, Fiona is now backing #ShareTheOrange campaign by Alzheimer’s Research UK.
Share The Orange puts a spotlight on the fact Dementia is caused by physical diseases, not simply an inevitability of old age.
Discussing the campaign, she said: “The word Dementia is used a lot and everyone thinks they know what it is but some people don’t know what it is.
“And they think it’s an inevitable part of ageing, like you get old and get Dementia but it isn’t.
“Dementia is caused by all different diseases such as Alzheimer’s. There is no proper treatment for it at all.
“It’s looks as though it’s mainly people over 65 [who are diagnosed with it], and get their first symptoms when they’re in their 60s.
“My mum was in her 50s and there are people who have it a lot earlier. It’s not an old people’s disease. There are people in their 30s with it.
“I’ve lived it, it’s the most horrible thing. It’s a person losing themselves and it’s so frightening for those involved.”
For further information on #ShareTheOrange visit www.alzheimersresearchuk.org/orange
