Musician James Brittain-McVey has told MPs of the mental and physical toll of his body image struggles. The Vamps’ guitarist and singer, 28, detailed how he spent thousands of pounds on private liposuction surgery to have tissue removed from his chest at the age of 20.
Speaking to the House of Commons Health and Social Care select committee, he said he first experienced pressure to change his body as early as 14 when he perceived physical differences between him and his school friends. He added he was affected by unrealistic body types in advertising and on social media, causing him to “fall down a rabbit hole” of unhealthy eating and exercise habits.
Mr Brittain-McVey said he only had six per cent body fat when he underwent surgery to address his gynecomastia, or overdeveloped breast tissue. “One of the biggest misconceptions in my opinion is people presuming that this is a strive for vanity or because I absolutely love myself – that wasn’t what it was”, he said.
"I think there was a degree of self-destruction within my mind about how I look and the pressure to conform to those stereotypes and gender constructs, and before I realised my whole life was controlled by this chase to look a certain way. You’re never satisfied.”
The musician said appearing as a contestant on ITV’s I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here in 2018 made him release that he still had “unanswered demons” in his mind about his body. “I went into that show feeling extremely confident; I came out of the show five or six kilograms lighter”, he said. “When my wife saw me she was shocked – almost scared of how ill I looked.”
Mr Brittain-McVey added the “demons” persist to this day, saying: “I’m 29 next month and this affects me to the same extent as it did when I was 14 and 15. I’m just now able to try and rationalise these decisions”.
He noted there had been improvements regarding mental health support within the NHS, but he said decades of “neglect” meant “there’s clearly a way to go”. When asked by former health secretary Jeremy Hunt what he would say to his teenage self today, Mr Brittain-McVey replied: “You are not alone in feeling this way”.
His comments came as part of the select committee’s inquiry into the impact of body image on physical and mental health. MPs also heard from experts and others who have had similar experiences.
Research by the Women and Equalities Committee in 2020 found 61 per cent of adults and 66 per cent of children feel negative or very negative about their body image most of the time. More information about body image and what support is available can be found on the NHS website.
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