In an exclusive extract from her new memoir, Vanessa Bares All, beloved TV star Vanessa Feltz bravely confesses how her mother Valerie’s influence led to an eating disorder, lifelong insecurity and a gastric band nightmare.
TV legend Vanessa Feltz has always been open about her weight battles. But now, on the second day of The Mirror's exclusive, the beloved star opens up about the real reasons for her yo-yo dieting - revealing how her own mum, Valerie, who she calls 'My Mother, My Dealer' in her new book, put her on a strict diet aged nine and got her hooked on black market amphetamines at 20, just to make her lose weight.
My mother was horrified and whisked me to a premier paediatrician who declared: "Vanessa is in rude health. These small mounds, Mrs Feltz, are the beginnings of her breasts." Breasts! At eight! My mother panicked. I had never been one of those chubby little children finishing off the birthday cake and looking for another biscuit. I was a skinny little girl who avoided sponge cake and cheese, and hardly thought about eating at all. So, when my body began to change, my mother thought: "Oh my God! Vanessa is going to get fat!" I was nine and fitted comfortably into clothes for nine-year-olds. Nevertheless, my mother began to curb, quite drastically and publicly, what I was allowed to eat.
By the time I got home at five, I was ravenous. I hadn't eaten since 11am. My mother was adamant. No food would be served. Her words still send a sad shiver down my spine: "Dinner is at seven. You'll just have to wait. If you're really 'starving' eat an orange".My attitude to eating changed. Whenever I managed – at a party or on my birthday – to get hold of biscuits or sweets, I devoured them instantly. I chain-consumed anything sugary with grim relentlessness.
Mum's helpful donation of amphetamines coincided with my finals. The exam papers were a hieroglyphic blur. Who cared? Invited on to the radio for the first time to discuss an article, I was funnier than I'd ever heard myself be. I charged straight to my parents' house. "Mum, Dad, did you hear me? What did you think?" My mother: "I've told you before. You must lose weight." Me: "Lose weight? I've been on the radio."
Health Vanessa Feltz Yo-Yo Dieting Amphetamine Addiction Eating Disorder Mother Influence
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