TV

Blue star opens up about ‘fat-shaming hell’ – it happens to men too

He's changed his life as a consequence

Antony Costa, member of boy band Blue, came on to Lorraine to discuss his experience of body shaming and changing the way he looked because of hateful comments.

He opened up to stand-in presenter Christine Lampard about why he decided to lose weight and change his lifestyle, after he was papped looking a bit bigger than usual back in March.

He explained: “I’ve been in this business 17 years and I very rarely get papped and the one time I get papped I was driving through the night to do a charity concert. I’m walking down the street and this bloke took a picture and I thought that was it.

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“Next thing a mate of mine text me going ‘have you seen this?’ I’ve looked and it’s like ‘oh god what do I do now’.”

But instead of going down a route of self hatred and depression at the body shaming comments he received, he decided to change his life for the better.

He said: “I turned that into a positive and I thought you know what if that’s how I’m being seen, I don’t want to be seen like that anymore.

“I want to be healthy, I want to be active, I want to be fit, I want to be working and looking good and feeling good. I changed my diet, I haven’t had carbs or sugar for five months and haven’t touched a drop of alcohol, I’ve just been drinking water.”

Antony spoke about the 3D Lipo procedure he has had done to shave inches off his waistline. He is an ambassador for the company and spoke highly of its amazing results.

He said: “I’ve done this non-surgical process which has changed my life. It’s non-invasive, it’s non-surgical and it kills the fat cells.”

Christine then steered the conversation to focus on people’s use of airbrushing to make themselves look different in photos. Antony believed that it’s partly thanks to social media that so many people become insecure about their looks.

He explained: “I started in a time when there was no Twitter, no social media, it was water off a duck’s back. And now you post a picture and if you’ve got a little bit of a double chin because you’ve taken a natural picture people are quick to go ‘looking a bit chubby there Costa’ or ‘look a bit fat there mate’ and you think – where does it end?

“Judge me on my talent. Don’t judge a book by its cover before you’ve met people because it can harm.

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“Me as a bloke being in this business it’s hard because you’ve got to keep up with the Joneses, you’ve got to be seen to have the six pack, and this and that.

“But I’d rather be me and have a good personality than have a six pack and not.”


Nancy Brown
Associate Editor

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