Coleen Nolan, who stars in Dancing on Ice and whose latest fitness DVD is topping the charts, has never looked better.
But behind her cropped size 10 figure and beaming smile, the Loose Women star was hopelessly unhappy.
It was 2009, and after years of struggling to control her weight, Colleen jumped on the celebrity fitness DVD craze, releasing four of her own from 2007 to 2009.
As a result of strict diet and training, she lost four pounds and went from a size 18 to a size 10.
“Actually, I looked great,” she says. “I think it’s probably the best thing I’ve ever seen.
“Interestingly, I started getting more offers for prime-time jobs.”
However, the 5-foot-7-inch star says constant exercise and dieting made her miserable.
“They had this trainer out seven days a week and I was on a really strict diet.
“As a human being, I was probably the unhappiest I’ve ever felt. I was gone,” says the mother of three.
“I lost my individuality and didn’t know who I was supposed to be anymore.”
The pressure to keep my weight down started to take a toll.
“I thought, ‘I don’t know who I’m doing this for,'” she says. “I was doing it for the money.”
Colleen started gaining weight and reached a size 16 in 2011.
“I’ve been on every diet, and they all work until you stop dieting,” she says.
“I went on a liquid diet with three glasses of liquid and lost three stones in three months. It was only 500 calories a day.
cannot be resolved immediately
“The doctor told me to remove it because it was very dangerous.
“That’s when I must have reverted to number four. Quick fixes will never work unless you change your lifestyle.”
Colleen’s battle with her body began when she was a little girl.
At the age of nine, she joined the Nolan Sisters with her older siblings, but soon began to feel insecure.
“My sisters were teenagers at the time and so beautiful that I thought, ‘Oh my god, I’m fat,'” says Colleen, 58.
“I look back now and think, ‘Oh my god, I had nothing.'”
As part of a chart-topping girl group that included her sisters Maureen, Anne, Linda and the late Bernie, Coleen says her body was under surveillance from day one.
“Maybe they told me to lose weight or called me fat,” she says.
“But I was only nine years old. I really wish I hadn’t listened to them. I probably would have had an eating disorder or just hated myself.
“This industry can be incredibly unsettling.”
Today’s television world isn’t much different.
She prepares to celebrate her 59th birthday Next This month, the presenter said he was furious that he was being sidelined by TV executives hungry for young stars.
“In the industry that I work in, there’s a tendency, especially for women, to say, ‘No, you’re a little too old for that.’ Well, I don’t have that,” she says. .
“When I get too old, I’ll let them know.
“When I go to meetings for a new show, I get along really well and think, ‘This is perfect for me.’
“Then obviously beautiful people in their 20s or early 30s get it.”
Coleen even claims she was pressured to have cosmetic surgery or “try a little Botox”.
she says: “There’s a lot of pressure, but I don’t want to do that, thank you. Please leave me alone,” she says.
“You look in the mirror and think, “Maybe I should get a facelift.” “Maybe I should get Botox,” or “Maybe I should get a size 6.”
“I’m strong enough to say no.”
I’ve been on every diet and every one works until you quit it
But Colleen added: “I don’t think there’s anyone who doesn’t look in the mirror, stand there and tuck in their cheekbones to smooth out wrinkles.
“But I love just as much to see the life in people’s faces. I love all the scars and wrinkles.
“What I like is not a face that has smiled all my life, but frozen I’ll be on time because I’ve finished my work.
“I would never push anyone out who wants to go down that path. But don’t try to pressure me to go down that path.
“I also feel like everyone is starting to look the same. The women are just starting to look like Stepford Wives.”
Due to the coronavirus and lockdown, Coleen lost a lot of weight and found herself back down to a size 18-20.
Not only that, she suffered from “devastating” pain from a torn disc in her back, bursitis (painful swelling in the hip), and plantar fasciitis (heel pain) in both feet. Ta.
“I had the worst time. I was literally eating paracetamol every day,” she says.
“I was obviously overweight. It was lockdown so I just ate shit.
“I’m a big snacker.”
“So I decided to eat a plant-based diet and it changed my life.
“Within two weeks I was off painkillers, my legs and hips felt better and I had lost about two stone.”
But as many health problems subsided, other, more serious symptoms emerged.
Colleen says: “It turns out I’m pre-diabetic. It’s type 2, or food-related.”
Colleen says it’s because her snacking has gotten out of control.
“I’m a big snacker. I’ve been snacking on chips, chocolate, everything, to death,” she says.
“And processed vegan foods are just as bad for you as eating McDonald’s.
“You just have to stop eating useless food.”
However, Coleen strongly opposes the use of weight loss drugs such as celebrity-favorite Ozempic.
she says: “I don’t believe in any of that.”
Colleen was horrified to discover she had skin cancer, a type of basal cell carcinoma, on her shoulder last year, but thankfully it was successfully treated.
However, the three pre-melanomas on her face have not yet been treated.
“I go and sort them out as soon as I can, because later I get cancer,” she says.
His younger sister Linda (64) is still battling an incurable brain tumor.
“She’s really amazing. Her will to live is off the charts,” Starr says.
“Just like I say I’m going to Tesco, she says she’s going to get chemotherapy.”
Colleen lives in Cheshire with her partner of three years, Michael Jones, 59, who works in supermarket logistics, and their animals, including four dogs, three cats, a horse and two goats.
Decided to eat a plant-based diet and it changed my life
Still, she says she has suffered from “empty nest syndrome” since she was a 22-year-old daughter. Ciara I left to go on a trip with my boyfriend at the beginning of this year.
“They bought a one-way ticket so they can’t say, ‘Well, we only have three months,’ because it could take three years,” she says.
“This is like a big, big hole in my life. My eldest son (Shane Jr.) is back for a while and my partner Michael is here as well, but it doesn’t fill the gap for my daughter.
“I don’t think anything can be buried until she gets home.”
Meanwhile, Coleen has been busy with her new solo tour, cheekily titled Naked.
The show will see her belt out her favorite songs, share her views on aging and discuss her love life, which can get awkward considering who she’ll be sharing the stage with. .
“My son Shane Jr. supports me, and my ex-husband Ray[Fensam]plays guitar,” she reveals.
“My new partner is in charge of selling the products. So this is really a family affair.”
Colleen decided to call the tour Naked because it would be her first time on stage without her famous sisters.
“I feel incredibly exposed, so my partner suggested we call it Naked, which I thought was a genius idea,” she says .
“People ask, ‘Are you going to get naked?’ And I was like, ‘If that buys me a ticket, I’ll say yes.'”
As for what’s up for discussion, she says nothing is off-limits.
“Ask me a question and I’ll answer it. I have no reservations,” she promises. “Unless there’s something really wrong.
“But if you hate me, you’d be really stupid to spend money on tickets, so make fun of me even more.”
- Colleen will be on her naked tour nationwide until March 28th.