I’m 2 stone lighter now than when I was 18.. on Corrie, Minnie Caldwell called me a chubby lad

CLIFF Richard has revealed he has been slim for most of his 60-year career thanks to Minnie Caldwell on Coronation Street.

Sir Cliff, 78, says he weighs 2st less now than he did when he was 18.

And he admitted he shed the weight in 1962 after hearing Minnie tell her pals Ena Sharples and Martha Longhurst: “Isn’t that Cliff Richard a lovely, chubby lad?” Cliff said: “I looked in the mirror and I thought, ‘Yes’. I decided it was not for me and so I went on a diet.” It was not the first time his weight had been commented on.

Journalist Donald Zec had described him as a “well-set, meaty youth” in the Mirror in 1959.

The singer had gained weight during his American tour and by 1960 had gone up to 12 stone. To slim down, he ditched his favourite treats, jelabis, an Indian sweetmeat, and started to exercise. The weight fell off and he had dropped down to 11st by the time he started shooting the film Summer Holiday a month after that episode of his favourite soap.

He lost another stone, kept it off, and was still looking trim when he made a cameo appearance on Corrie, popping into the Rovers Return for a pint in 1997.

Sir Cliff has also revealed how he refused to meet Elvis Presley because he felt the King of Rock ’n’ Roll was just too fat.

But he paid the price for his fat shaming as Elvis died in 1977 before Cliff got another chance to meet him.

On the Jonathan Ross Show, Cliff revealed that a US journalist offered to arrange the meeting with hero Elvis.

Cliff said: “I said, ‘Let’s wait’, because Elvis had gone through a period of putting on a lot of weight.

“I just thought, if I’m going to have me and Elvis on my refrigerator, I would really like him to look [good].

“I regret it because he died not long after that. I was stupid. I regret it to this day.”

If I was to have me and Elvis on my fridge I wanted him to look good

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