TEARFUL TRIBUTE
Alison Hammond breaks down in floods of tears after Dermot O’Leary surprises her on Christmas Day
ALISON Hammond broke down into floods of tears after Dermot O'Leary surprised her on Christmas Day.
The 50-year-old consoled Alison following a tribute held for her on This Morning.
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Attaching a plaque to a seat in the studio, Dermot said: "We've named a seat, 'Alison Hammond TV queen and entertainment star', that's named after you in perpetuity forever."
Upon hearing the heartwarming news, Alison instantly grappled with maintaining composure and had tears streaming down.
Teary Alison said: "I'm so sorry I'm crying, you don't understand what that would've meant to my mum.
Dermot replied: "With that in mind, we know you used to go there with your mother, so we've got the next seat along, we've just named it after your mother.
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The seat read: "Mama Foster, 'The most beautiful sound I ever heard Maria'."
While glam holidays and a jet set lifestyle might now be the norm for the This Morning presenter, it's a million miles away from her humble beginnings when she was drowning in debt as a cinema usher.
Alison was born and raised in Birmingham with her two siblings to Jamaican immigrant parents.
The family lived in a council house in Kingstanding, north Birmingham, and the TV presenter has recounted that her mum worked several jobs to support the family.
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After leaving school, Alison worked as a travel rep and cinema usherette, admitting in an interview on ITV's Lorraine that she only applied for Big Brother because of financial woes.
"At the time, I was £4,000 in debt," she told Lorraine. "I went into an internet cafe to apply online."
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