LISA RILEY ON
Standing naked in front of the mirror, Lisa Riley did not recognise the woman staring back at her. Gone were the rolls of ugly, loose skin that had plagued her since her dramatic 11-stone weight loss. She couldn’t believe she might finally have the body she craved her entire life. In Lisa’s first newspaper interview since the life-changing operation, the actress reveals how she feared she would die as she underwent extensive surgery to remove a stone of excess skin. Speaking from her new home in London, Lisa says: “I can’t even begin to tell you how I felt the first time I looked in the mirror naked post-surgery. “It was three weeks after the operation and I just couldn’t believe it was me. It was complete disbelief. I had a flat stomach for the first time ever. “But sometimes I still see obese Lisa. I think it will still be the case for a long time. Sometimes it takes my breath away when I see the new me.” She adds of her transformation: “I don’t drink alcohol any more – the girl who could down a few bottles of wine is dead and buried to me now.” Just nine weeks ago the Loose Women star, 40, had the four-hour operation to take excess skin off her stomach, hips, legs and groin. She had spent the previous two years losing weight via diet and exercise, dropping from size 28 to a 12-14. But nothing would get rid of the resulting loose skin. Terrified though she was of surgery, she felt she had no choice if she wanted the body she’d worked so hard for. “I had fear like I have never, ever known,” Lisa explains. “I just thought to myself I wasn’t going to wake up. “When I was gowned up and going down to theatre it was horrendous. I was terrified but my surgeon Rob Winterton, at Spire Manchester [Hospital] has this unbelievable calming effect on me.” After the surgery, a nurse came to Lisa’s house daily for three weeks to help her wash and check the wounds. And for the first month, she had to wear a compression corset. Yet the 2012 Strictly Come Dancing star believes it was all worth it. She is now a comfortable size 12. Lisa says: “I remember being in Strictly and looking at Tess Daly wearing those gorgeous dresses with the fab gold belt; never in a million years did I ever think I’d be able to wear them. But now I can. “I don’t have to think about covering up.” But it hasn’t all been plain sailing. Lisa got infections in her legs, which she puts down to not heeding the surgeon’s advice