Loose Women star admits to taking laxatives in eating disorder struggle after being branded 'the big girl'

Loose Women favourite Kéllé Bryan has been in the public eye for decades after becoming on-fourth of the nineties R&B girlband Eternal. Along with Louise Nurding (now Redknapp) and sisters Easther and Vernie Bennett, Kéllé achieved 15 UK Top 20 hits, earned seven Brit Award nominations, and walked away with Best Single at the 1997 Mobo Awards.

But behind the scenes, it wasn't all rosy for Kéllé, now 49, as their fame coincided with the so-called heroin chic era, where a size 0 was celebrated, and skinny-worshiping was at its peak. At a healthy size 10, she was dubbed "the big girl" in the band and was left seriously struggling with her relationship with her body.

"It was the size-0 era. Again, everybody was looking at me and I was the 'big girl in the group'," she tells us. "All the designers would bring rails of sample clothes, I’d look and think, 'They’re never going to fit me.' The other girls were smaller sizes and I was a size 10 and they just didn’t have that size. I’d try to wiggle my way into stuff, to the point where I thought, 'I’ve got to do something about it.' So again, I had an eating disorder. My mum was amazing and so was my GP.

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"I went to the doctor for something else and he asked me about my eating habits. He said he could tell my digestion wasn’t working the way it should and that I was interrupting that process. I admitted, 'I’m taking laxatives,' and he was amazing and referred me to all the right people."

Kéllé says her difficult relationship with her body predated her Eternal days, and likely stemmed from joining stage school at 11, and as a young Black girl, not fitting the stereotypical profile of a performer.

"I started my life at stage school at age 11 and was a dancer from two so I was always in a leotard and tights," she explains. "I have the stereotypical Black girl figure, I’ve got boobs and thighs. Once puberty hit I was told, 'You’re never going to be a dancer.' So I had an eating disorder from my early teens."

Under the guidance of her GP and with the support of her mum in particular, Kéllé got the help she needed, and now as a mum of two and back in the spotlight as a panellist on Loose Women, and previously as an actress in the likes of Hollyoaks, she's extra careful about the messages she sends - and receives.

"It’s about what I surround myself with, I try to educate my algorithm online. I’m really guarded about what I read, what I listen to, and I watch really healthy people. I surround myself with people who speak positive language. I’m quite responsible to the people around me. I have open conversations with people like my mum.

"It’s about being careful about your surroundings and who you allow into your inner circle. It’s not the big things that make a difference, it’s the little incremental things that seep into your psyche and before you know it, you’ve got a certain opinion and don’t know where it came from."

For advice and helplines about eating disorders, see beateatingdisorders.org.uk

Kéllé Bryan collaborated with JD Williams for their Midlife Redefined initiative and helped curate a Partywear Edit that has been styled by brand ambassador Gok Wan, and is available in sizes 8-32.