MICHELLE WANTS TO JOIN THE BAND
Singer considers surgery after piling on pounds
A SUSPICIOUS package which sparked a terror alert near a tourist attraction could have been put there as a hoax, police say.
An army bomb disposal team carried out a controlled explosion after the object was discovered on Thursday in West Princes Street Gardens, near Edinburgh Castle.
A park ranger found the brown cardboard box – about the size of a shoe box – on the ground under a shelter at about 5.30pm.
After looking inside the blank, unsealed box, he called police and the area was sealed off.
Police are probing whether its contents were designed to look like a bomb, or if there was an “innocent explanation” for it.
Chief Inspector Alan Carson said: “It’s a strange incident. The motive for it being there is unclear.” POP Idol winner Michelle McManus is considering having gastric bypass surgery to lose weight.
The singer said she is struggling with her size, despite being happy in her personal life after getting married in September.
The 37-year-old weighed 23st when she shot to fame and has previously said the attention on her size was unfair.
She lost more than 10st but has confessed to piling on the pounds in recent months and said she now looked like a “human steak pie”. Michelle has looked into having surgery but wants to have one more try at losing weight naturally through diet and exercise before going under the knife.
Her aim is to have a figure like This Morning host Holly Willoughby’s by the end of the year.
Michelle, who won the TV singing contest in 2003, said: “In my 20s and early 30s all I had to do was cut my calorie intake down to about 1300 calories a day and exercise three times a week and the weight would literally fall off me.
“But now that I’m almost 38, that old approach just doesn’t work any more.
“I’ve thought really seriously about gastric bypass surgery as a few friends I know have had it and they look incredible.”
Michelle, from Glasgow, admitted she decided to take action about her weight when she stepped on to the scales after the festive period.
She added: “It’s hard to explain unless you’ve experienced it yourself but trust me, when you’re comfortable in your own skin it doesn’t matter how great everything else is.
“I’ve done the usual January stuff like step on the scales only to look down and start roaring and greeting at my weight.
“I then cut out a picture of Holly Willoughby from a magazine (replacing her face with mine) and stuck it to my fridge door in a bid to deter me from opening it again until at least May – and I’ve of course joined Weight Watchers (again).”