‘My lockdown panic drove me back to a sausage addiction’
Former Big Brother star Lisa Appleton reveals how she was initially binge-eating in isolation but has rebuilt her confidence with sexy dancing and a healthier diet
She revealed the shocking extent of her 50-a-day sausage addiction to Closer three years ago, admitting she couldn’t stop eating bangers as comfort food when she fell into a dark depression. And despite later overcoming her food dependency and being in a happier place, Lisa Appleton has admitted that the strain of lockdown and living alone led her to relapse.
The 52-year-old former Big Brother star says, “I think I had a small dose of post-traumatic shock syndrome to start with. I felt complete fear and I didn’t sleep properly for weeks.
“It’s been very emotional – I was so worried about my family and friends. I had friends from my hometown who lost loved ones to COVID-19 and I think that triggered something in me. It felt like a living nightmare.”
RELAPSE
Though Lisa hasn’t contracted coronavirus herself, she reveals her worry at the situation sparked a phase of binge-eating to cope with the stress.
“I relapsed and went back to my sausage addiction for the first three weeks of lockdown. I was probably eating about ten a day,” she says.
“Everyone was panic-buying toilet roll, but I was panic-buying sausages to stock up! I thought I’d rather make sure I had enough sausages to bring me comfort. I just went into a complete panic, so I was buying tons and freezing them. The temptation was too much.
“Although I wasn’t eating as many a day as during my last addiction, this phase went to a different extreme of me trying every variety of sausage – chorizo, chipolata, frankfurters, garlic, and pork and sage… I really got into the German sausage. It’s all in that first bite – it’s pure comfort food to me.
“I ballooned during April. I could see the difference in my body shape, so I thought, ‘Right, stop this.’”
Lisa began building up her daily walking and at-home dance sessions to lose the weight she’d put on.
“I curbed the sausages and started dancing to high-energy music for half an hour every day to pick me up. That motivated me to start doing more walking, aerobics, yoga and even just jogging on the spot indoors to burn the calories. I cut down on comfort snacking, like cakes and crisps, and ate much smaller portions, and the weight soon dropped off.
“I had put on about 2st, but now I’m back to a size 10-12. I’m always going to eat sausages, but I just control it now and keep it balanced with healthy stuff like salad and veg.”
Lisa was catapulted to fame when she appeared on Big Brother in 2008 alongside her then-boyfriend Mario Marconi. The couple married two years later, but when a fraudster pretending to make a TV show about them fled with all their cash in 2011, the pair were left homeless, and by 2013, their marriage had broken down.
SOULMATE
Now Lisa is currently happy and loved-up with her “soulmate”, a mystery man who, at 49, is three years her junior.
“We haven’t seen each other for three months because of lockdown. It’s difficult because you want to see each other but you have to stick to the rules. We get on so well but we’re both really busy, so it wasn’t an option to start living together straight away when we’re enjoying taking it slowly. We’re keeping in touch with phone calls and FaceTime. For the first month or so, sex wasn’t even on my mind – I was just thinking about COVID all the time! I’m really looking forward to some romance and moonlight kisses.
“I call him my boyfriend. I believe we’re soulmates,” she says. “You just know, don’t you? And I think this is definitely The One.
It’s a very different type of relationship to Mario – a real, true, loving relationship. He lets me be me, he doesn’t judge me, he’s supportive – I’ve never had that before.
“He’s not after the fame. He just likes to see me happy and doing well. For once in my life, I’ve got my love life outside the media circus and I’m the happiest I’ve ever been. I would marry again. When you go through a divorce you say, ‘Never again’, but I wasn’t expecting to meet someone, so then you say, ‘Yeah, why not?’ if you’re happy and in love.”
HOMELESS
After her marriage collapse in 2013 left her hitting rock bottom both mentally and financially, Lisa was briefly forced to live in a treehouse in 2018. And last year, stressed about making ends meet, she turned to sites OnlyFans and Cameo – which allow users to sell glamour-style pictures and videos to followers – to get back on track.
She says, “Living in the treehouse is what triggered me to start doing OnlyFans. I just thought, ‘Stuff it, I’m going to get my boobs out!’
“Making the Cameo videos for fans really helped me get out of my anxiety phase at the beginning of lockdown. I needed the fun factor back in my life. I was getting my bikini on and dancing to disco music and I just made myself laugh again. I did one dance in a bikini to Three Lions for a football fan.”
Being prone to bouts of depression – the worst being three years of deep depression following her divorce – Lisa now knows how to manage her moods and feel positive again. “I’m looking after my health and exercising again,” she says. “Rebuilding your life from rock bottom takes time. I was homeless and on benefits and, when my marriage broke down, I had a mid-life crisis – it was a real rollercoaster time. But you can rebuild your life again. I feel better than I’ve felt in a long time.” By Daisy McLure
‘I feel better than I’ve felt in a long time’