Singer Jamelia has spoken out for the first time since she was reportedly dropped from the Loose Women panel for making controversial comments about plus-size women.
“I haven’t been formally sacked by Loose Women, as other people have been in the past,” she told the Birmingham Mail.
“So I guess I technically still have a job with them. But I haven’t been on the show since those reports, so people will make of it what they will.
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“The show is going in a different direction at the moment and I don’t seem to be a part of that narrative,” she added.
The 36-year-old hasn’t been seen on the ITV daytime show since last October when there were reports that ITV bosses were trying to “distance themselves from her views”.
The former Strictly Come Dancing contestant made the comments about clothing sizes during a panel discussion in 2015. “I don’t believe stores should stock clothes below or above a certain weight,” she claimed at the time.
“[Larger weight people] should be made to feel uncomfortable when they go in and can’t find a size. I do not think it’s right to facilitate people living an unhealthy lifestyle.”
A source revealed that ITV bosses weren’t happy. “The show is often close to the bone but those comments were the final straw,” they said.
“Loose Women’s viewers come in all shapes and sizes and the producers don’t want them to be offended.”
Jamelia faced a Twitter backlash after the comments, which she described as “difficult” to cope with. She later explained that she’d mainly been referring to people who were a size 20 or above.
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“I didn’t make it clear on the show that I was talking about extremes,” she said. “I was talking about above size 20 and below size six, those sizes being available en masse.
“Knowing that I offended people really upset me,” she said. “All I can do is apologise for that.
She added: “I’m a real women with real opinions. I get paid to voice my opinions.”
The Loose Women news isn’t the only change for the star, who also revealed that she’s no longer with the management team who helped guide her career for the past 15 years.
“They [the management company] have been fantastic,” said Jamelia, who was announcing plans to launch her own YouTube channel, JameliaDotCom. “But sometimes when you’re in a long relationship it gets a bit boring and monotonous.”