Former Britain's Got Talent judge David Walliams was unceremoniously dropped by his publisher HarperCollins in recent days amidst allegations he acted inappropriately towards junior female employees. In the past few years he had reinvented himself as a prolific and bestselling children's writer, so even without reading details, I assumed it must be serious if the company dropped such a cash cow. Personally I was just surprised he hadn't been dropped sooner for sheer rudeness. I interviewed him at the end of 2022 and he came across as arrogant and egotistical - and remains the most unpleasant celebrity I have ever chatted to in the course of my work.

For some context this was late 2022 and I'm sure he had reason to be wary of reporters as it wasn't long after his ignonimous departure from the ITV talent show after he was recorded making disrespectful remarks about some of the hopefuls. However I was working on TV magazines at the time and this had been specifically set up by the BBC as a joint chat with Sheridan Smith about their festive offering for the broadcaster Gangsta Granny Rides Again, based on his bestselling book. It was to be a simple and straightforward interview about the film with no curveball questions whatsoever. He was fully aware of this.

While this kind of chat is most actors' and writers' dream - they don't have to worry about being asked about personal issues - David looked bored and disinterested from the moment he logged on to Zoom. He was the antithesis of the warm and smiling Sheridan who was completely engaging.

Despite the fact they are apparently friends, David didn't seem to want her to get a word in edgeways and he droned on about himself and his work, barely touching on the actual question asked.

On several occasions I had to interject and redirect a question to Sheridan for an answer, and he did not appear happy when she was talking instead of him. I remember thinking at the time, 'I would dump a friend of mine if they acted like that.' He made a really straightforward part of my job truly painful.

He was so rude, dismissive and long winded I knew it was going to be difficult to turn that interview into anything engaging. Plans to run it as a dual 50/50 chat were quickly scrapped as he hadn't let Sheridan say enough (although we obviously used her quotes as well). Trying to eke the least tedious quotes from his waffle actually gave me a headache.

I was a big fan of Little Britain, and until that point I was even prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt about the Britain's Got Talent incident since he was pursuing a legal action against them. I had never written anything negative about him and had enjoyed pretty much all of his work to that point.

However that 20 minute encounter completely changed my opinion of him. I was just trying to do my job and he seemed determined to make it as difficult as possible. Yes, he could have been having a bad day. But it didn't feel like he was in a random mood - this seemed like his organic state.

I was heading to the premiere of Matilda the Musical's big screen outing that night, and I told journalist friends about it. Every one of them was horrified. I told my editor about his actions and I am sure they thought I was exaggerating, such was his public cheeky chappie persona at the time.

I have never been turned off a celebrity as quickly as I was him and I honestly have no desire to ever talk to him again. Given that he is losing contracts left right and centre now, it is unlikely I will ever have to.