Steps singer Claire Richards, 46, claims she was pressured to shed pounds whereas within the band and says: ‘If I used to be informed that now I’d inform them the place to go’

Steps singer Claire Richards has claimed she was pressured to shed pounds whereas within the band on the top of their fame. 

In an interview with Good Morning Britain on Thursday, Claire, 46, stated she feels she has ‘earned her stripes now’ and would ‘inform individuals the place to go’ if somebody informed her to vary her measurement. 

Claire, who launched her solo album Euphoria final week, revealed she was made very conscious that her voice would not be sufficient to ensure her success and that she wanted to ‘shed pounds’ to additionally look the half. 

Talking to hosts Charlotte Hawkins and Rob Rinder on the ITV present, Claire opened up about being a younger ladies within the trade and the way she was ‘informed to shed pounds’ regardless of being a measurement 10. 

She stated: ‘I hope it is not nonetheless an issue within the trade and I hope if somebody informed me that now I’d inform them the place to go. 

Opening up: Steps singer Claire Richards, 46, has claimed she was pressured to shed pounds whereas within the band and stated on GMB on Thursday: ‘If I used to be informed that now I’d inform them the place to go’

Weight reduction: The Steps singer, 46, revealed she was made very conscious that her voice would not be sufficient to ensure her success and that she wanted to ‘shed pounds’ to look the half (pictured in 2008)

‘Again then there was a factor for feminine pop stars to look a sure method and there was a prototype everybody needed to conform to. 

‘I needed to be in a band a lot that I did something I needed to do to get into the group. 

‘It performed [on my mind] for a very long time however now I really feel like I am now in my 40’s and I really feel like I’ve earnt my stripes and I really feel a lot stronger now for going via all that.’

Claire, who auditioned for Steps again in 1997, not too long ago confessed that she agreed to lose half a stone for the chance to be within the band.

But the weightloss spiralled and she or he reached the purpose the place she obtained far too skinny.

Talking to The Solar on Wednesday, she confessed: ‘I wasn’t fats or huge — I used to be a measurement ten or 12 — however I obtained skinny for the band.

‘The older I get and the extra I give it some thought, in fact it affected me as a result of it simply despatched me on a spiral for years.’

Discussing the change in in style physique types over time, Claire believes her determine again then would even have been on pattern these days, as a result of curvy type made in style by the Kardashians.

Stronger: Now the popstar appears like she has ‘earned her stripes’ within the trade and admitted that she ‘would inform somebody the place to go’ in the event that they criticised her weight

Claire opened up about how she was ‘informed to shed pounds’ regardless of being a measurement 10, she stated: ‘I hope it is not nonetheless an issue and if somebody informed me that now I’d inform them the place to go’

She stated: ‘I needed to be in a band a lot that I did something I needed to do to get into the group. It performed me for a very long time however now I really feel like I’ve earnt my stripes and I really feel a lot stronger now for going via all that’

She recalled: ‘I used to be actually small on the highest, with little boobs, however I had a bum and thighs, which is a determine that folks pay cash for now.’

But again within the 2000s everybody had no hips and no boobs, and Claire was pressured into reducing weight.

At present, the star believes she can be handled very in another way and other people would not discuss to her in the identical method.

Steps gained chart topping success with their hits 5, 6, 7, eight and Tragedy, and the group, together with Lee Latchford-Evans, 48, Lisa Scott-Lee, 47, Faye Tozer, 47, and Ian ‘H’ Watkins, 47, are nonetheless going sturdy, scoring 4 UK No1 albums of their 25-year profession.

Claire’s weight has fluctuated over time after she went as much as a measurement 20 and weighing 16 and a half stone in 2001 after the group cut up.

It led to the discharge of her 2008 health DVD, 5 Step Fats Assault, which noticed her lose 5 stone and drop 5 gown sizes.

Claire is constant to pursue her music profession along with her solo document, and says she feels extremely assured now in herself.

However this is not the primary time the star has opened up about her physique struggles, after she opened up in July about her heartbreaking battle with anorexia following merciless feedback from document bosses within the Nineties.

Talking to Vicky Pattison on her The Secret To podcast, she spoke about how she developed an consuming dysfunction when she was placed on a 900-calorie a day food regimen comprising of fish fingers and peas.

The gang: Claire’s joined Steps in 1997 when the band was shaped alongside Lisa Scott-Lee, Lee Latchford-Evans, Faye Tozer and Ian H Watkins (clockwise from high left)

Hitmakers: Steps gained chart topping success with their hits 5, 6, 7, eight and Tragedy and not too long ago carried out at Brighton Pleasure (pictured in 2022)

The Nineties gave beginning to the ‘Heroin Stylish’ look, pioneered by Kate Moss, wherein dauntingly skinny silhouettes had been desired among the many stars – one thing Claire revealed was enforced by her document label when she was being informed to lose kilos.

Having began her struggles in The Scan-Dolls, Claire first band, she revealed: ‘It occurred after I was in TSD. They did it to all of us as a result of we had been all fairly curvy women. I used to be in all probability a [size] 10 or a 12 and wasn’t huge in any respect […]

‘However within the music form of world and at the moment that complete Kate Moss, heroine-chic, was a factor and so they needed everybody to be actually, actually skinny…

‘So, we had been all placed on a food regimen. That food regimen was fascinating as a result of we had been inspired to eat fish fingers, peas and baked beans and have like a 900-calorie food regimen.’