Hurt Coleen: ‘Would you just shut up!’
What was really behind Coleen Nolan’s unexpected outburst? Hurt Coleen: ‘Would you just shut up!’
Something had clearly touched a nerve recently when Loose Woman star Coleen Nolan suddenly lashed out, shouting, ‘Would you just shut up!’
It came during a debate on the ITV show about rising obesity levels, and whether the government should control food portion sizes – a touchy subject for Coleen, 53, who has famously battled with her weight for years.
Things got awkward when fellow panellist Janet StreetPorter, 71, suggested bringing back food rationing, as in the period after World War II.
Janet said, ‘ When I look back at my parents’ and grandparents’ generations, they were all thin, weren’t they? Because they had rationing. So why doesn’t the government [introduce it]?
‘Once a week, through the letterbox will come your ration book for the week.’
Coleen looked disgusted, particularly when stirred-up Janet rounded on her, saying, ‘Coleen, get your head round this. You’ll have a little ration book and vouchers, and they’ll have so many portions of pizza, potatoes, and pasta, and those are your rations for the week.’
Face like thunder, Coleen snapped, ‘ Why don’t you shut up?’ before Janet confessed she was ‘only joking’.
But Coleen, who has fluctuated between a size 20 at her biggest and a size 10 at her smallest – when she appeared in 2009 on Dancing On Ice – looked offended, and the atmosphere was frosty.
Currently in the midst of a divorce from her husband of 10 years, Ray Fensome, with whom she has 16-yearold Ciara, Coleen’s weight is connected to heartache and complex emotions.
The mum-of-three hinted back in 2016 – when she first admitted her marriage was in crisis – that her weight may have contributed to their problems.
Ray had said to her, ‘Men are very visual’ – the subtext being, she felt, that he didn’t find her attractive any more.
‘I know that he fancies me slimmer… but I didn’t go out and buy slimming pills or go on a crash diet,’ she added.
Speaking again in 2016, she said, ‘The fact is, I’m always going to like cake… There will always be a fat girl trying to get out, but I’ve got to get her under control.’
With the weight of her past struggles on her shoulders, no wonder Janet’s comments got under Coleen’s skin.
‘There will always be a fat girl trying to get out, but I’ve got to get her under control’