'WE SHOULD PROUDLY TAKE UP SPACE'

Reality star Ferne McCann on body confidence, social pressures and setting a good example to her two young daughters

- 

Fresh-faced and subtly sun-kissed, Ferne McCann is ready for anything. Following a gorgeous family Christmas, which came on the heels of a "magical" skiing trip to the Italian Dolomites ("I ate my body weight in pizza and pasta," she laughs), she's ready to take 2026 by the horns. At 35, Ferne, who shares daughter Finty, two, with her fiancé Lorri Haines and has Sunday, eight, from a previous relationship, tells us during an exclusive chat that she's in a great place - not only with her career and family, but how she feels about her body.

A recent glitzy red carpet event, however, almost risked toppling that self-confidence that had taken her years to build up, she admits.

"I noticed so many thin women walking down the red carpet alongside me and I'm not joking, I actually felt 'big'. I started to question my body in a way that I hadn't done in years," she explains.

"There's such a rise in people striving to be super skinny again. It feels like a step back, towards that heroin chic look of the 90s.

"Especially as a mum to two girls, it worries me that there's such a big strive to be super skinny again. What happened to that body positivity movement? Without doubt, this is linked to the rise in weight-loss jabs. Lots of people admit it."

Ferne is at pains to point out that weight-loss jabs can be very beneficial to those who truly need them - and they've revolutionised weight loss. But she also raises concern about people abusing them.

"I want to be very clear, this is not me slamming weight-loss jabs," she insists.

"But I do worry this new culture of 'thinjections' does put pressure on people to conform to being 'thin' and their widespread use is bringing us further and further away from the body positivity movement and the freedom it afforded us to celebrate ourselves, whatever our size.