CHERRY HEALEY ON COSMETIC SURGERY SHOW: ‘I didn’t want to take my clothes off’
Mum-of-two Cherry Healey, 37, goes on a body confidence mission for a new UKTV series where she looks at the pressures on women to be perfect…
How happy are you to be on TV wearing little more than just your pants? I think if you’re going to create a programme where you face your body demons, then you have to face your body demons! There were many moments where I really didn’t want to take my clothes off, but my whole reason for doing the show was because of my issues with my body… You visit a cosmetic surgeon who recommends you splash out £18,000 on some “work”... After turning 30 and having my daughter (Coco, eight), I’ve done a lot of work unpicking the unhealthy narrative in my brain. That’s nearly a decade of trying to love myself. When the surgeon was prodding me and lifting my boobs I was thinking, “Get off me!” It made me feel protective of myself. I’m not just a big sleeping bag of skin to play with – I’m Cherry. I’m a good mum (to Coco and also Bear, four), and I’m fun to be with! Did you feel under pressure to shape up before doing the show? I mean, I probably wouldn’t have eaten a massive burger the night before, but my body hangups aren’t that I think I’m really overweight, it’s more that I’ve grown up in an era where you felt under pressure to be stick-thin. In episode one you go to a naked yoga class (though Cherry remains clothed). How was that? It probably didn’t help that they were all gorgeous and had amazing bodies. It was like being back at school in the PE changing rooms… And you’re there in the operating theatre when 28-yearold Keisha has a Brazilian Butt Lift (aka a BBL)... I loved Keisha, but she looked like she’d been hit by a truck. She was horrific – in the worst state I’ve ever seen anyone. But she is totally fine now and she loves her new body. Do you do anything to fight the ageing process? I think exercise is the thing that makes me look the best. It gives me a zippiness and makes me feel good inside. I do everything; I’m trying to really mix it up. What are your thoughts after doing this show? I do think that whatever any woman decides is fine. I spray tan; for some people that might be too much. It might be the same for someone with Botox and fillers. But it’s an industry that’s growing so fast we need to ask questions and educate the young girls having surgery. Do you have more confidence? I know I’m not hideously unattractive, but the world spends so much time telling women they’re not enough. Every day you leave the house and you see beautiful images of girls – all airbrushed. No matter what you look like, any normal person who stands in a changing room in their bra and pants looks to those models, then looks down and goes, “God, I’m a troll!” Do you feel attractive to men? (Cherry split from her husband in 2016) It’s only been since starting to stop this silliness in my head that I’ve started to feel really sexy. I am seeing someone, and when I came back from my Miami trip for this show he said, “Did you get surgery?” I loved how horrified he looked, and relieved when I said no…