From modelling in Milan in the 90s and becoming the face of Kellogg’s Special K, to winning Celebrity MasterChef and hosting her own radio breakfast show, it seems like Lisa Snowdon has done it all.
And now the 51-year-old is on our screens again for This Morning , fronting regular women’s health and fashion segments.
“I’ve literally just got into a cab after doing This Morning . Can you hear me?” she asks on the phone, as she explains her morning with ITV. “It was a busy one, but I enjoy it. I’d rather say productive than busy. Busy feels too negative.”
Lisa is engaged to 43-year-old George Smart – the couple rekindled their romance in 2015 after initially dating 20 years ago. She previously said, “He’s the most supportive person.”
But the presenter’s other major relationship is with her body image and she tells to us about learning how to stand up for herself in modelling when she was told to lose weight.
“It definitely didn’t give me bad confidence issues with my body. If anything, I felt more confident within myself to be like, ‘No, this is my body.’ I learnt how to say no,” she says.
Now Lisa explains why she realised fitness is the key in your forties.
"I really notice a difference when I don’t move," she says. "I feel lost without it. I love the serotonin boost that I get from doing something for me and only me."
Lisa reflects on “tricky times” as a model in the 90s when she was told to lose weight.
"Back in the day, I wasn’t impressed with being told to lose weight because, in my mind, I was already really tiny," she said.
"I was old enough to realise that wasn’t something I wanted to do. I had a healthy attitude to food, as I always have.
"I liked my body. So I wasn’t prepared to trim down or try to lose weight. They wanted me to lose weight off my boobs and that’s not something that can happen."
Lisa soon realised that being a model in the early 90s was "tricky" as "androgynous" bodies were the "height of fashion at that time" so she quit.
"I left Milan and came home, which was when I ended up doing all my Special K adverts," she said.
"You get to know what your own worth is and what you’re prepared to do or not do. It definitely didn’t give me bad confidence issues with my body. If anything, I felt more confident within myself to be like, 'No, this is my body.' I learnt how to say no."
Now Lisa is a regular working on This Morning and loves how her fashion features are body positive.
" For me, it’s all about empowering women and making them look and feel the best they can about themselves," she said.
"There are viewers that come in who model for us and they’re not experienced. They come in and they might be a little bit nervous, but they do it. It’s great to see their confidence grow. You see them from start to finish – from walking through the door in the morning to then walking down that catwalk, beaming from ear to ear. That is what it’s all about."
And Lisa is thrilled with how her TV career has gone as it's "so varied and exciting" every day.
She explains: "I always wanted to be on Top Of The Pops and I ended up doing that. I always wanted to be on MTV and I started doing that. Then, I always wanted to do Strictly Come Dancing – and I ended up doing that. I went on to do MasterChef , also a show that I love. I’m super thrilled with the way my career has turned out and how varied it has been. There are some documentaries I’d like to cover on women’s health. I’m just getting started."
Lisa is now using her social media and time on This Morning to educate women about the menopause.
"It’s just important. It hasn’t been spoken about enough," she says.
"Education on menopause needs to happen in schools and people need to keep talking about it. People need to know what to expect and what may happen."
Meanwhile, Lisa is working with David Lloyd on the gym company's Falling In Love With Fitness campaign…
"Exercise isn’t a fad for me," she said.
"Once you fall in love with exercise, you realise that you can’t live without it. I really want to encourage everybody to move their bodies and find something they will stick with – 45% of people have the intention that they’re going to work out and then by the end of January, they’ve given up. So with the David Lloyd Clubs, they’ve really honed it down and they’ve got this amazing 45-second, super quick quiz with psychologist Dr Josie Perry to work out which one of the five different fitness personality types you are."
Lisa has teamed up with David Lloyd Clubs to encourage people to fall in love with fitness by taking a fitness personality quiz.
