Lisa Riley:
After her dramatic weight loss, the star opens up about finding inner confidence, coping with panic attacks and her IVF heartbreak
“I finally have curves in all the right places!”
She’s lost a staggering 12st S in three years, dropping from a size 30 to a 12 by overhauling her diet, and taking up Zumba and yoga classes. But according to Lisa Riley – who last year proudly showed off the results of two gruelling rounds of surgery to remove loose skin – her weight loss has not only transformed her body, but her mind, too. In fact, to say her confidence is at an all-time high would be an understatement.
Lisa, 42, says, “When I look in the mirror, I love what I see. My boobs are in the right place. I’ve got a flat stomach, and I work hard at it.”
“I love going to go the gym,” she continues, “because it gives me the body I want, and I love the camaraderie there. Mentally, it’s a real boost. My trainer gave me the biggest compliment the other the day and said I had legs like Venus Williams, because they’re so solid – inside, I felt amazing.”
COPING WITH ANXIETY
And after shedding nearly half her body weight by ditching carbs, sugar, snacks and alcohol, as well as exercising every day, Lisa is loving the attention her new body brings.
She laughs, “I now spend my life doing squats, and I want to show off my boobs and my bum – I work for that wolf whistle in the street!
“I said to someone the other day that I feel like Jessica Rabbit, because I finally have curves in all the right places. I watched Bridget Jones: The Edge Of Reason the other night, and I really have got the Bridget Jones body – I feel womanly and shapely.”
She adds, “People tell me I’m radiating and I’m glowing, and it’s because I’m finally happy.”
Lisa, who found fame as Mandy Dingle in Emmerdale in 1995, maintains that one of the biggest bonuses of shaping up is being able to wear clothes that flatter her figure – and she admits she keeps some of her old dresses to serve as a “healthy reminder” of where she used to be. She says, “The excitement never goes away when I go shopping. At the Baftas in May, I wore a fitted velvet emerald gown. It’s something I never thought I’d ever be able to wear, and I felt like a million dollars.”
But while she’s brimming with confidence today, turn back the clock and the bubbly actress was once crippled with anxiety, after struggling to cope with fame and panic attacks.
She reveals, “When I was younger, I didn’t want to be famous, I just wanted to act. And fame hit me like a ton of bricks. The whole country knew who I was at 17 – there were days when I didn’t know whether I was Lisa or ‘Mandy’. I would feel claustrophobic, and as if someone was pushing against my chest. It became so bad, I panicked about panicking. If I was going somewhere, I’d make up a scenario in my head that actually wouldn’t happen, and it would make the journey worse.
“Over time, I realised I needed to stop worrying about what would happen. Travelling has made huge a difference for me, as it gives me time out. So has keeping a diary, because it gives me a release for my feelings. Now I haven’t had a panic attack in years.”
STRUGGLING TO CONCEIVE
Earlier this year, Lisa spoke candidly on Loose Women about her struggle to conceive with her long-term partner, Al. She revealed how she had tried IVF, but had decided to move on after doctors confirmed her eggs were not “good quality”, and admitted that IVF
treatment was unlikely to be successful.
And despite admitting she felt “emotionally drained” by the process, Lisa says she tries to remain positive. She tells us, “I don’t find it painful to talk about, because I’ve got to accept I can’t have children. I want to be there for women who have struggled, but I also want to be the one who says, ‘Do you know what? It’s OK, we’re just not meant to have kids.’ I’ve always been one of life’s realists, and I can’t make my eggs any better. There was no light at the end of the tunnel, my readings were terrible over and over again.”
She stands firm by her decision not to pursue IVF, saying, “After I lost the weight, people would say, ‘You’ve got the perfect body, you’re in a long-term relationship, so what next?’ But it’s not about what’s next. I have a great life and I’m happy, and I don’t want to adopt either. I’ve been through an enormous change, and I have to give myself a pat on the back for that. To put IVF in the mix, and then adoption, it doesn’t work for me.”
And while Lisa revealed she and Al, whom she chooses to keep out of the limelight, became engaged in May, there are no wedding plans on the horizon. She laughs, “I won’t be rushing down the aisle any time soon. I’ve not even looked at any wedding dresses – I think it will be the longest engagement in history. We get home after work, run a bath and have dinner. We have a very quiet life, but we’re content – and that’s why our relationship works.”