Vanessa Feltz used to hide behind pillars and potted plants to try to look slimmer when she started dating Ben Ofoedu.
Vanessa Feltz
The TV and radio presenter has been dating the 45-year-old singer/songwriter for 12 years, but when they first got together she was so conscious about her weight she used objects to make her look thinner, but he later confessed he is a big fan of "chubby blonde girls".
She said: "When I first met him I kept hiding behind a pillar or a potted plant to look thinner. I kept thinking, 'If I just suck my cheeks in and stand behind that thing will he think I'm thinner?'
"Afterwards he said, 'What were you doing?' I said, 'I was just trying to look thin and alluring.' But he said, 'I don't like that. I really like chubby blonde girls.' And that's me I suppose."
The 56-year-old star has a gastric band fitted, but she still tries to "slither down" some calorific treats from time to time, despite admitting she is being "idiotic".
Vanessa said: "You can slither something down like risotto, or shepherd's pie, or chocolate.
"I know it's idiotic. You pay for the operation, you go under general anaesthetic, you do it because you want to lose weight but then you're thinking, 'I can't eat the chicken and salad so I'll just have some custard.'
"Obviously that's idiotic, but I'm just telling the truth.
"I'm not smoking, I'm not drinking, I'm not taking drugs, I'm not having sex with strangers, although I wouldn't mind, but I'm not, then you think, 'A piece of cake - how can I not have that?'
"I must be entitled to some pudding or a doughnut, or whatever it is? I'm a good person, I'm doing my best and if this is my reward, let me have it.
"A little voice at the back of your head says, 'Is this really worthwhile, because you'll get fat, and do you want to?' "
But Vanessa hasn't always treated herself to sweet treats. She was too "broken-hearted" to eat after breaking up with her ex-husband Michael Kurer - who she divorced in 2000 - and while she was complimented for losing weight at the time, she was "miserable".
Speaking on ITV's 'This Morning', she added: "I just couldn't eat. I was shocked and heartbroken. I was just devastated. I was broken-hearted. I wasn't happy and slim, I was miserable and slim.
"When I started to get myself back together again and I became more my real self, happy and more content, calmer, I started eating again, because that is my real self.
"So I started to put the weight on again, because I became more normal."
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