I wouldn't want a life where I feel I hadn't risked anything just to save myself from a scar...

REVEREND Richard Coles has revealed that he's started taking medication in a bid to lose two stone.

- LAUREN TAYLOR

"My birthday present to myself was Ozempic, because I'm too fat and I want to lose some weight - it's affecting my health I think," says the broadcaster, author and vicar, who rose to fame as part of the band The Communards in the 1980s.

"I could do it the regular way but realistically if I'm very busy I need all the help I can get!"

Richard, who was a Church of England vicar before stepping down in 2022 and made it to ITV's I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! 2024 final alongside winner Danny Jones and Coleen Rooney, says so far two days in when we speak - it seems to be working.

"My stomach feels a bit different, not unpleasantly, weirdly low in appetite. It seems to be diminished.

"I just don't want to get dependent on something just to keep health-threatening weight off.

"I want to get down to a reasonable weight and then maintain it without the assistance of pharmacy.

"I want to lose two stone," says the 63-year-old. "I'd love to tell you that I take to the hills, with a bounce in my stride and I cycle for 150 miles a week, but I don't."

Richard is the new host of the second series of The Apple and The Tree, a podcast in which he speaks to famous faces and their adult children, facilitating candid and moving discussions about topics we often avoid with our parents.

Guests in this series include broadcaster Vanessa Feltz and her daughter Saskia, politician Michael Gove and his son William, and Sunday Brunch's Simon Rimmer and his daughter Flo.