When Josie Gibson shot to fame in Big Brother after vowing viewers with her loveable nature, she found instant fame came at a cost. Josie was 25 back in 2010 when she bagged 77 per cent of the vote to romp to victory on the reality TV show, making her the most popular winner to date.
But after she became well known overnight, the star admitted she used to cry a lot after being trolled over her weight. “I used to cry on a daily basis after coming out of Big Brother,” the This Morning presenter told Mail Online.
This week Josie, now 40, revealed she had been diagnosed with gout ahead of filming her new TV project The 1970s Diet. She had recently presented the Channel 5 travelogue Around The World In First Class and told The Mirror: “I caught a lot of flights, I drank a lot of champagne, I ate a lot of rich food and I had little sleep. That’s how I ended up getting gout.”
A prevalent condition for the wealthy in medieval times, gout is a form of inflammatory arthritis caused by a buildup of uric acid in the body, leading to painful, swollen joints. It most commonly affects the big toe but can also affect joints like the ankles, knees, and feet.
“I kept saying to the nurse: ‘My toes keep hurting’,” said Josie. “I thought gout was only for old men but I have been living quite a lavish life.”
The presenter went onto lose six stone in a year in 2014 after she hired a personal trainer and in 2018, after she gave birth to her son Reggie, significantly overhauled her diet by banishing refined sugar from the menu. “I first embarked on a weight-loss journey in 2013 when I shed 6st over a year with a combination of healthy eating and exercise,” she told Closer magazine.
Josie released two fitness DVDs that year before 2016, when she underwent a tummy tuck procedure to remove excess skin from her stomach following her weight loss. Welcoming her son Reggie in 2018 made the star reassess her priorities and focus less on her weight.
“I put on around four-and-a-half stone while I was pregnant,” she said. “I realised that there was more important things to focus on in life, rather than losing weight and hating my body.”
Shockingly, the star had once told new! magazine she “came very close one day to ending it all” over the cruel trolling over her fluctuating weight. “I spent years hating my body,” she said in an Instagram post. “It’s been the laughing stock of magazines and social media posts.”
In 2020, a Twitter user messaged the star to say: “I don’t mean to be rude but @Josiestweet is absolutely vile. It breaks my heart when I look at how fat she has got again.” Josie quote-tweeted the cruel quip and replied: “But you are being rude, so you do mean to be rude.”
“I hid my pain and tears with humour, making jokes about myself before others could,” said the star. “But inside, I was deeply unhappy, convinced I’d be obese for life and that no-one could ever love or want me.”
Josie’s new Channel 5 show will see her swap fancy restaurants for boiled potatoes, liver and spam as she eats a typical 1970s diet. Only 10 per cent of people in the UK were obese in the decade, thanks to living more active lifestyles with smaller portions and less snacking.
This figure has now tripled. “I was surprised by that,” said the star. “I think of the 1970s and I think of madeira cake, trifles, angel delight… it doesn’t scream healthy.”
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