Myleene Klass is starring in the all-star I'm A Celebrity... South Africa and in scenes set to air on Friday, May 5 she reveals the body shaming she faced at the start of her career. The pop star and TV presenter confided in Welsh TV presenter Carol Vorderman.
Talking to Carol Myleene said she was told to lose weight when joining the musical Miss Saigon, was told her band Hear'Say was known as the "fattest band in pop" and Elton John said they were the "ugliest band in pop". Elton John later sent flowers to apologise for his comments.
Myleene said: “When I joined the Miss Saigon cast, I was lined up with all the other girls and I was told, ‘You’ve got to lose weight. When I joined the Miss Saigon cast, I was lined up with all the other girls and I was told, ‘You’ve got to lose weight’."
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“And then I got in the band and I had other band managers coming up saying, ‘You’re the fattest band in pop’. Newspapers then were writing it... You won’t have to look hard to find those headlines. So again, rather than the fact we had talent, I could read any music, play most instruments you put in front of me… it came back to ‘fattest band in pop’.”
"We got sent flowers from Elton John who said we were the ugliest band in pop. He realised, maybe I shouldn't have said that. He sent ‘sorry flowers’ to us… I look back at that time, it was a different time in history.” You can keep up to date with the latest TV and showbiz news by signing up to the newsletter here.
Myleene also revealed she was asked to change her name as she was told Myleene would be difficult to produce because it was "too ethnic". She said: “I was asked to change my name. I was told people wouldn’t be able to pronounce it because it was quite an ethnic name. You’d be cancelled if you said something like that now. I was told to use my middle name. I am not using my middle name. My middle name is Angela. ‘Alright, Ang!’”
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