TV

X Factor: Celebrity star Ricki Lake reveals incredible weight loss since audition

She's 21lb lighter

Star of X Factor: Celebrity Ricki Lake has lost 20lbs after carrying “grief weight” following the death of her husband.

The 51-year-old former talk show host’s second husband Christian Evans died by suicide in 2017 and Ricki recently went on a diet to lose the extra weight she put on after his death.

This image is strictly embargoed until 00.01 Friday 18th October 2019 From Syco / Thames The X Factor: Celebrity: Ep2 on ITV Pictured: Ricki Lake. This photograph is (C) Syco/Thames and can only be reproduced for editorial purposes directly in connection with the programme or event mentioned above, or ITV plc. Once made available by ITV plc Picture Desk, this photograph can be reproduced once only up until the transmission [TX] date and no reproduction fee will be charged. Any subsequent usage may incur a fee. This photograph must not be manipulated [excluding basic cropping] in a manner which alters the visual appearance of the person photographed deemed detrimental or inappropriate by ITV plc Picture Desk. This photograph must not be syndicated to any other company, publication or website, or permanently archived, without the express written permission of ITV Picture Desk. Full Terms and conditions are available on the website www.itv.com/presscentre/itvpictures/terms For further information please contact: james.hilder@itv.com / 0207 157 3052
Ricki will perform for the judges tonight (Credit: Syco/Thames)
Read more: Shirley Ballas stopped eating due to Darcey Bussell envy

Ricki told MailOnline: “I was on a very restrictive diet for almost two months.

“I just really wanted to change my body. I lost my husband two and a half years ago, to mental illness and death by suicide.

“And for me, I was carrying a lot of that grief in physical weight, and I was really ready to shed it, and so I just took the opportunity, I wanted to come back feeling and looking different, and I feel like I accomplished that.

“It’s like a control thing. The one thing you can control, and it’s empowering for me. And so I just feel a lot better.

“And so watching myself on screen – though I love the show, I think it’s hilarious and so well done and I’m so happy to be a part of it – it’s hard for me to see myself.”

Does Ricky have what it takes to make the live shows? (Credit: ITV)

Ricki and Christian – who suffered with bipolar disorder – began dating in 2009 and married in April 2012.

Following the advice of a therapist to cut off contact during one of Christian’s manic episodes, Ricki went on to file for divorce in October 2014.

But he was later sectioned and then entered a treatment facility, and the pair resumed their relationship and eventually moved back in together after his release.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Ricki Lake (@rickilake) on

Read more: Kate Garraway ‘books time off work for I’m A Celeb appearance’

Ricki said: “He wasn’t stable, and he was so fragile. But I was still in love with him, so there was something romantic about it. I wanted to save him.”

However, Christian’s mania returned and he moved out again.

Ricki said: “I was upset, but I wasn’t surprised. I knew he was having an episode, and there was nothing I could do.”

Leave us a comment on our Facebook page @EntertainmentDailyFix and let us know what you think!


Carena Crawford
Associate Editor (Soaps)

Related Topics