Loved-up and slimmed-down Elaine has found her ‘lobster’
ELAINE Crowley captured hearts when she spoke about her vulnerable side on Celebrity Operation Transformation, when she opened up about that perfectly human trait: loneliness.
But, this weekend, she told the Sunday Independent that it’s not for the lack of romance in her life.
The TV3 presenter has revealed she has been in a relationship for the past year.
Although her boyfriend, who attended the Irish Film and Television Awards on her arm last Friday night, does not like walking the red carpet or posing for paparazzi shots, the pair are going strong after a year together.
Gushing over her handsome date, the loved-up star said: “He is my lobster,” referencing the famous quote from sitcom Friends, meaning ‘he’s the one’.
The TV3 Midday host added: “I have been going out with him for a year.” But she revealed the pair were long-time friends first: “I have known him 15 years.”
Opening up about her recent weight loss on the smash-hit RTE show, she said the one person who never felt she had to shrink her curves was her supportive other half:
“He didn’t even realise when I put on weight,” she said, “he adores the bones off me.”
Asked why the romance hasn’t gone public, she said: “He has been on my shoulder every day. He is my lobster. And he is happy to be my lobster, but he doesn’t want anything to do with the media.”
Elaine would only reveal that he was an engineer for ESB but she said that anything else was not hers to tell.
Meanwhile, speaking about the huge fan base she has amassed since appearing on the fitness programme, she said: “I think I opened a discourse and a conversation within our society where a lot of women might have been down my road in that you have a perfect job and a perfect life and you have a perfect everything, and you are looking at it going, ‘yeah what’s wrong with me, why do I feel so miserable?
“And do you know what? It’s okay not to feel okay. I used to feel really guilty and that’s why I didn’t talk about my fears. I felt guilty saying I wasn’t okay and I hid it for years and do you know what... the relief after that [was palpable].
“The wonderful thing I found after doing Operation Transformation was the amount of people coming up to me on the street, saying: ‘I couldn’t do it but you did so I feel I can do it now.’ I just got so sick of hiding. Hiding my vulnerabilities. When you are on TV, everyone thinks you are so strong and I am not. It’s just a job. It’s what I do. And there’s this perception that you are above that. We all get up every morning and have a cup of coffee and try to get through the day the best we can. Just because I am in television doing it doesn’t mean I feel it less than anyone else.
“I think as a country we have become very open about being vulnerable and if I have contributed to that discourse in any way — I am very happy,” she added.