Gok Wan opens up about his battle with body confidence
GOK WAN ON THE IMPACT OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON BODY IMAGE STRUGGLES
On today’s Loose Women, stylist and honorary Loose Man Gok Wan opened up about his battle with body confidence and lamented how, as a nation, this problem is at an all-time high thanks to social media.
Discussing his recent Instagram post about his body image struggles, he said: “I am going to talk from the heart here, I think we are probably in the worst place we have ever been in with body confidence, with social media and how young people - and how people our age - feel about themselves. Identifying with a shape...with how we should look, is so out of whack now.
Gok told us: “I hear so many horror stories...I get so many of these messages [on social media] saying to me: ‘My son or my daughter has just come out of a clinic’...I do feel responsible and I get really bad social media guilt if I can’t talk to them all. So this was a kind of an open letter I suppose. I felt compelled to say it...if one person read that and thought: ‘I am not on my own’ or ‘I am going to get better’ or ‘I can feel better about myself’, then it was worth me sending it out.”
Gok also talked about his new show, Say Yes To the Dress on TLC, teasing tonight’s series opener: “It’s a great episode...It’s full of heart, full of tears…”
Watch the video to see the full conversation with Gok.
Jade Goody's bridesmaids look back at their friendship 10 years after her death: "She would be so proud of her two sons"
JADE GOODY'S BRIDESMAIDS PAY TRIBUTE TO THEIR BEST FRIEND 10 YEARS AFTER HER DEATH FROM CERVICAL CANCER
A decade after reality star Jade Goody died from cervical cancer aged just 27, her five best friends joined us to talk about their friendship.
Charlene Hull, Jennifer Smith, Kelly Reading, Caroline Roberts and Kate Webb paid tribute to Jade who died on Mother's Day in February 2009 and spoke about what she'd think if she could see her sons, Freddie, 14, and Bobby, 15, today.
Kelly said: “She would be so proud of them, they are gorgeous. We love having them in our life, we see them quite a lot. We have them for sleepovers and talk to them about their mum.
"There was a time when we wasn’t sure if it was right, we always asked Jeff [Brazier] what he thought.
"Freddie particularly wants to know funny stories about his mum. They are so like her.”
All the friends were naturally emotional talking about about Jade. Kate recalled witnessing the moment Jade broke the news to her young sons that she was dying.
Kate said: “She comforted everyone... the only time I saw her lose it was then. That was the only time you could hear her screaming.”
Jade Goody and four of her best friends just weeks before her tragic death in 2009
TOWIE's Pete Wicks talks about Mike Thalassitis' tragic death to raise awareness of men's mental health issues
TOWIE'S PETE WICKS TALKS ABOUT MEN'S MENTAL HEALTH
We were all shocked and saddened by the death of Love Island's Mike Thalassitis, reportedly by suicide, and Pete Wicks joined us to raise awareness of men's mental health. Pete appears on the current series of Celebs Go Dating with Megan McKenna who dated Mike.
"I've spoken to her very briefly and I think Megan needs time to process whats happened. It’s a big shock to everyone - especially Megan. She'll be okay but it's a tough thing for anyone to deal with, especially someone who has lost a partner," Peter told us. "It's such a tragic thing to happen to anyone. Especially someone who's in the public eye and it becomes a big story. It's very hard for his family. My thoughts go out to his family."
Pete also opened up about his own experience of anxiety and depression.
"I've dealt with that myself. Any time you go to anything, you put yourself in a position where everyone can judge you for everything you do," he said. "Does that mean being judged should happen? Not necessarily. Anything that happens in life you deal with close friends and family. When it's heightened by everyone else having an opinion it's harder."
Watch the video for the full chat with Pete.
We have information about our Lighten The Load campaign here.
We have depression helplines available here.
Celebs Go Dating's Pete Wicks
If you pledged to Face Your Smear - come join the Loose Women audience!
Loose Women launched the Face Your Smear campaign in February 2019
JOIN THE LOOSE WOMEN AUDIENCE THIS FRIDAY!
More than 18,000 of you have clicked our Face Your Smear pledge button online to book in for your smear test since we launched 6 weeks ago.
Now we'd love to invite some of you who've taken part to join us here in the studio THIS Friday 22 March 2019.
Email enquiries@sroaudiences.com and please put FACE YOUR SMEAR in the subject title for the opportunity to join us in the audience.
