'How can wolf-whistling be offensive? It's a compliment,' says Joanna Lumley

joanna lumley

Joanna Lumley has issued a Lighten Up order as she claims modern people have become far too sensitive

Joanna Lumley has said wolf-whistling is a compliment and that people get 'offended by everything' these days.

The Ab Fab star, 70, insisted that women should not get all hot and bothered about being whistled at, saying people have become 'sensitive flowers' in this day and age.

She told the Daily Mirror: “How can wolf-whistling be offensive to women? It’s a compliment.”

“They’re saying ‘Cor you look all right, darlin’.' What’s wrong with that?”

Joanna, who started her career as a model, said people used to have thicker skin.

“We were tougher in those days. You knew someone would whistle in the street and you weren’t insulted,” she said.

“We have become more sensitive flowers nowadays, people are very offended by everything.”

Joanna Lumley (PA)

Joanna Lumley (PA)

 

The star said in her modelling days photographers could be much ruder.

“They’d say ‘You look frightful, what’s the matter with you?’ ‘You look podgy, you look fat as a pig’.

“It was good-natured banter, you kind of got on with it, it didn’t upset you,” she said.

Joanna Lumley and Jennifer Saunders

Joanna Lumley reveals she didn't want to do Absolutely Fabulous

Joanna Lumley and Jennifer Saunders

Joanna Lumley: I was convinced I'd marry Elvis!

Joanna Lumley and Jennifer Saunders

Joanna Lumley: ‘I was 10 when I became besotted with Elvis's magic voice’

 

PA Media is the national news agency for the UK and Ireland. With unrivalled access to the performers, productions and celebrities on both sides of the Atlantic, PA Media stories provide an irresistible glimpse into showbiz news. Bringing you all of entertainment's big moments. From daily soaps to film productions, we cover the shows that audiences want to know about with our previews, news and interviews.