Skip to main content

FM
Former Member

'Sex victims are being punished for sins in past lives': Fury at bizarre outburst by Corrie's Ken Barlow

19 Mar 2013 00:00

Bill Roache – who famously posed in full druid’s outfit at Stonehenge three decades ago – has made no secret of his unconventional beliefs

 Daily Mirror  
Crackpot views: Bill Roache on New Zealand TVCrackpot views: Bill Roache on New Zealand TV

Bill Roache has caused outrage by appearing to defend stars who sleep with underage girls – and claiming sex abuse victims are paying the price for their behaviour in “previous lives”.

In an astonishing TV interview, the Coronation Street star said it was easy for famous men to be “trapped” by adoring young groupies who throw themselves at them.

And he said of the victims: “If you accept that you are pure love, and if you know that you are pure love and therefore live that pure love, these things won’t happen to you.”

The remark prompted interviewer Garth Bray to ask: “To some people that sounds perhaps like you’re saying victims bring things on themselves – is that what you’re saying?”

Roache replied: “Not quite, but then yes I am, because everything that happens to us has been a result of what we have been in previous lives.”

The 80-year-old actor, who has played Corrie’s Ken Barlow for 53 years, made his bizarre comments in an explosive interview with New Zealand’s One News channel.

Talking about people who are accused of being abusers, he insisted: “Whether they’re proven guilty or not, we should not be judgmental about anybody, ever”.

He added: “If somebody has done something wrong then the law will take its course, but even so all of us, whatever whether they’re proven guilty or not – we shouldn’t go around condemning, unforgiving.

“We should always be totally forgiving about everything.”

Coronation Street actor William Roach, interviewed on ONE NEWS, New Zealand televisionQuiz: Coronation Street actor William Roache interviewed in New Zealand

 

Discussing paedophilia, Roache said it was a complex issue that had been “stirred up” by the Jimmy Savile case.

He added: “Paedophilia is absolutely horrendous. ­Paedophiles should be sought out, rooted out and dealt with.

“But there’s a fringe of people who, particularly pop singers, they have these groupies.

“These girls, who come, they’re sexually active, sexually mature, they don’t ask for their birth certificate, they don’t know what age they may be.

“But they’re certainly not grooming them and exploiting them, but they can be caught in this trap.

“These people are instantly stigmatised, some will be innocent, some will not, but until such time as it’s proven there should be anonymity for both.”

But last night Roache’s comments caused outrage.

Dr Jon Bird of the National Association for People Abused in Childhood, and a victim of abuse himself, slammed the soap star’s remarks – particularly his suggestion that victims were somehow to blame for being abused.

He said: “This claim is completely disgusting, and on a deeply personal level I am both hurt and offended – as I am sure many other victims will be.

"I have spent years undergoing therapy trying to come to terms with what happened to me, while he has enjoyed the privileged life of a well-paid television actor on ­Coronation Street.

“Mr Roache has belittled the hurt and pain of others without any understanding of the circumstances himself. He should be ashamed of himself.”

Roache – who famously posed in full druid’s outfit at Stonehenge three decades ago – has made no secret of his unconventional beliefs.

Coronation Street actor William Roach, who plays Ken Barlow in the long running soap, with his wife Sara as they leave their London hotel for Buckingham Palace

 

 

He is a member of the Pure Love Movement, which advocates that love can cure illness and end suffering.

He has previously claimed his daughter Edwina, who died aged 18 months in 1984, is now a nurse in the afterlife.

He said last September: “She is helping other children who have passed over to understand what has happened.”

Despite regularly attending a spiritual group, he insists he is not a spiritualist, and claimed last year that the earth was moving into a new “golden age”.

He said: “The earth will continue to cleanse itself while material and negative things will collapse and cease to be.

"The energy and light of the Creator is love. Love is the life force, it is everything, it is the law of attraction.

“I have always known that there are beings around me, loving and guiding, and never more so than now.”

Replies sorted oldest to newest

The magicians spell.

 

You're going under. You'll dream of velvet. You'll wake up in the middle of the night and give him your Visa details. An orb will transcend and you'll forget all about it.

 

Nite erin  

 

 

 

FM
Originally Posted by erinp:
Originally Posted by Enthusiastic Contrafibularities:

 

 

 

 

Take the "e" from his surname and that is what he is.

 

 

 


His Corrie mates call him cock roache

I wonder why? 

Moonie

Glenn Hoddle lost his England managers job for saying something similar (the past lives bit), should Bill Roache get his character killed off from Corrie?

 

If anything what he said was far worse than Hoddle's remarks all those years ago.

Videostar
 
Coronation  Street star Bill  Roache has apologised after being quoted as suggesting that sex  abuse victims are being punished for their past lives.
In an official  statement, the Ken Barlow actor said that he had been misunderstood but offered  his sympathies to all people affected by such crimes
Coronation Street actor Bill Roache at Riverside Studios

Bill Roache at Riverside Studios

"I would like to say  that I am very sorry for any offence that has been caused as a result of my  comments," Roache said.
"I would never say that victims of sexual  offences are in any way responsible for the abuse they have suffered and I offer  my deepest apologies if anything I have said has been misunderstood in this  way."
He added: "I had no intention of causing any kind of distress as a  result of my interview and I offer my upmost sympathies to anyone affected by  sexual offences and paedophilia."
Roach had told New Zealand station TV NZthat "everything that happens to us has been a result of what we  have been in previous lives" and that those who live "pure love" will not be  victims.
 
He had also  added: "Paedophilia is absolutely horrendous. Paedophiles should be sought out,  rooted out and dealt with.
"But there's a fringe here, a fringe of people  who, particularly pop singers, they have these groupies, these girls, who come,  they're sexually active, sexually mature, they don't ask for their birth  certificate, they don't know what age they may be.
"But they're certainly  not grooming them and exploiting them, but they can be caught in this trap.  These people are instantly stigmatised, some will be innocent, some will not,  but until such time as it's proven there should be anonymity for both."

 

FM
Originally Posted by erinp:
Originally Posted by cologne 1:
Originally Posted by Garage Joe:
A small piece of rolled up cardboard??

 

I like his son, I was hoping he'd escaped this nonsense.

He helps run the 'organisation'

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new...-troubling-cult.html

While I spit on the DM, I'm very disappointed at Roache jun.

cologne 1
Our favourite parts of the article were the couple of occasions when they referred to his Druid garb from a while back. This, on the day when that bloke and his retinue were walking around the Vatican City dressed like a bunch of tarts. This, two days after the Archbeako of Canterbury came out with his unusual opinions in the Sunder Times. I'm sure that he has fewer followers than them and in fact his opinions are totally irrelevant, as well as being totally wrong. I doubt that any of us agree with him.
Garage Joe
Originally Posted by moonie:
Originally Posted by Yogi19:

According to BBC news, he has now apologised profusely.

An apology doesn't change his views though does it? 

Wonder what his comments would be if it was one of his own that was abused ?? 
I found him odd after he took the press to court because someone said Ken Barlow was boring  

FM
Originally Posted by Videostar:

Glenn Hoddle lost his England managers job for saying something similar (the past lives bit), should Bill Roache get his character killed off from Corrie?

 

If anything what he said was far worse than Hoddle's remarks all those years ago.

Chuck him in the Rovers fire

SazBomb

Add Reply

×
×
×
×
Link copied to your clipboard.
×
×