Steps singer Claire Richards has revealed how her body image spiralled after record bosses made cruel comments about her weight when she started out in the industry in the 1990s.
The One for Sorrow hitmaker recalled how she developed an eating disorder when she was put on a 900-calorie-a-day diet comprising of fish fingers and peas.
The 45-year-old explained how her eating was restricted while in a band called The Scan-Dolls before she found fame with Steps. At the time, ‘Heroin Chic’, which fetishised incredibly thin silhouettes, had become in vogue.
And with Kate Moss’ model figure deemed the ideal standard, the singer claimed her record label put her on the strict diet, which was decidedly less than the 2,000 calories a day recommended by the NHS for women.
Speaking to Vicky Pattison on her The Secret To podcast, Richards revealed: “It happened when I was in TSD. They did it to all of us because we were all quite curvy girls. I was probably a [size] 10 or a 12 and wasn’t big at all…
“But in the music kind of world and at that time that whole ‘Kate Moss heroin chic’ was a thing and they wanted everyone to be really, really skinny...
“So, we were all put on a diet. That diet was interesting because we were encouraged to eat fish fingers, peas and baked beans and have like a 900-calorie diet.”
The discussion around her weight unfortunately continued when she joined Steps.
Richards shared: “The audition for Steps was ’97 and by that time I had cut my hair really short, stupidly, and I was wearing this stripey catsuit which I wore in the video for Last Thing on my Mind.
“And I always use to tie a hoodie around my waist because I was really conscious of my bum because I thought I had a massive bum...
“They sat me down, did my audition and they said, ‘Oh, we really like you. We want you to be in the band, but you’re going to have to lose weight’ […] it set me on a pathway of not really eating for four-and-a-half years.’”
The Deeper Shade of Blue singer said she believes that she’ll never fully heal her relationship with her body.
“Yeah, I mean I still haven’t managed to [regain my confidence],” she admitted. “I think I’m much better than I was. But I don’t think I ever will get rid of it completely because it’s played such a massive part of my life for such a long time...
“And I think I probably was anorexic. You know, I managed to kind of stop what I was doing to myself but that went from not eating at all, to overeating.”
