Celebrity chef Rosemary Shrager is the life and soul – a personality larger than life – but she struggled with insecurity before weight loss.
The beloved personality appears on James Martin’s Saturday Morning this Easter.
The I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here! star, 71, is a welcome addition to any kitchen having trained in haute cuisine.
With her infectious laugh, Rosemary’s a joy to watch, fronting programmes including Ladette to Lady and Cooking with the Stars.
However the mum-of-two admitted she wasn’t always so confident.
The chef was one of the standout stars of I’m A Celeb in 2012.
But Rosemary revealed her camp clothes didn’t fit her before she went into the jungle.
“Sleepless nights”
She told the Daily Mail: “I had lots of sleepless nights. We had to do a publicity shoot in London before we went to Australia where we all had to be pictured in our ‘camp gear’ which was trousers and t-shirts.
“I was in a frenzy about it as I hadn’t worn trousers for 30 years. When I got changed, they couldn’t find any to fit me.”
Rosemary ended up in a pair of “stretchy things”, which she says were different from the other campmates’.
She also revealed she shelled out a staggering £500 on three swimming costumes from Rigby and Peller because they were “very well-structured”.
Drastic weight loss
Rosemary ended up shedding a whopping 2st 12lbs on the ITV show and admitted the drastic weight loss was her main reason for heading Down Under.
She explained: “I have tried so many times to lose weight and failed. I needed help to give me the kick start.”
The chef said she had always struggled with her weight having been born weighing only four pounds.
Her family were worried she may not survive, but then Rosemary explained she suddenly became “very big”.
Family life
The star was told her size was ‘something to do slow metabolism’, with Rosemary admitting her weight affected her confidence with boys.
However the chef said she began to lose weight when she was 12 and later married her husband Michael, when she was 22.
The couple went on to have two children, Tom and Kate.
Sadly, Michael died in 2020, within weeks of the star losing her mum, June Davis.
James Martin’s Saturday Morning is on ITV on Saturday at 10.25am