Vanessa Feltz's parents told her she needed to lose weight after her first radio appearance

25 October 2024

Vanessa Feltz's parents told her she needed to lose weight after her first radio appearance.

Vanessa Feltz's parents told her to lose weight before she became famous

The 62-year-old broadcaster recalled her first interview several years ago and revealed that her mother and father had advised her to shed the pounds because they thought it would be best should she make a career in the public eye.

Speaking on the 'White Wine Question Time' podcast, she told former 'Loose Women' anchor Kate Thornton: "The very first time I was on the radio, the very, very first time, I sensed it had gone really well. I had never been on the radio before, I'd never been in a studio before, I'd never been required to speak into a microphone before. I wasn't paid, I was an unpaid guest on a little show called 'Jewish London' on what was then GLR.

"I was terribly nervous, I was talking about an article I'd written about the Jewish mother and when I came out, I was absolutely floating on cloud nine because I knew I'd done a really good job. I was really funny, and I was really fluent but meanwhile my parents were listening at home.

"I was on this fabulous tidal wave of excitement, like 'Wow, did you hear that? What did you think? Was I good? Was I funny? Did you like the line I said about that thing?' to mum and dad and they only thing they said was 'You really have to lose weight'. And it was the radio for Christ's sake."

The former 'Strictly Come Dancing' contestant - who is also known for her appearances on 'This Morning' and also hosted a chat show in the 1990s - later confronted her mother about the comments but doesn't believe that the advice was meant in a "nasty" way.

She said: "When I said a few years later, 'How could you have said that?' and 'Why did you say that?' my mother said 'Oh well, I thought you might become famous and I thought it was important that you get on a diet'. So, she must have thought it was good if just one interview on the radio might make me famous and her overwhelming thought was 'For God's sake, lose weight'. I don't think she did it to be horrible, I don't think she meant to be horrible."

"I think she thought that being slim was just the key to everything.

"She'd never felt slim felt it herself, even though she wasn't particularly fat either. She was a 14 or 16, she wasn't enormous at all or noticeably fat but I think she felt it. She felt that it was a terrible disadvantage and she was trying to rescue me from the misery of being too fat, I think that what was going on. I don't think she meant it nastily, although it wasn't very nice, I must admit! But I don't think she meant it nastily."