Fern Britton update: the Daily Mail steps into the scandal

By Jude Rogers

Fern, Fern, Fern. We have always loved you. You know, not in that way, but like a cool, sprightly mum or something. On TV, you used to be big, bold and beautiful, and when you started losing weight in a sensible way then we were all very pleased for you. Until we found out yesterday that you've gone the Sharon Osbourne route to slimming success – by having a gastric band operation (or as my mum once called one of those: "a big old set of gut staples"). And now, Ms Britton, we're all in a tizzy.

Watch Fern defending herself on yesterday's This Morning show here.

It's OK that we're in a tizzy, though, because the Daily Mail's Amanda Platell is too. (Oh dear: I guess you see the flaw in that logic.) "Fern Britton looked for all the world like a little girl who'd been caught with her hand in the sweetie jar", she begins as she describes the moment Fern revealed her fib to the This Morning audience. A food gag which is a trifle (oops, we've done it too!) unnecessary, we think. But then – Lord help us – we start to agree with the woman.

Amanda continues thus: "Alas, the message [Fern's] secret operation sends out to women struggling with their own weight is the wrong one. You can't shift the pounds by diet and exercise alone: you have to cheat. And given that few will be able to afford the £6,000 to £10,000 that it costs to have a gastric band fitted, who could blame those struggling with their weight to give up on a healthier lifestyle altogether?"

And OK, although Amanda continues to jib on a bit too much about Fern's Ryvita campaigns and lays too much blame on her (skinnier) shoulders, when she says "why didn't she just come clean and take a nation of weight-worried women with her?", we firmly agree with her. Are we losing our minds? Or is the unveiling of Fern's little secret something that will make all us ladies feel the same?

5 comments

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Jeanette Leech 3 Jun at 11:58 AM

Delicate situation handled poorly

It's a tricky one, because it's a personal medical issue for Fern and no-one, however famous they are, should feel like they have to disclose information about their health.

Having said that, obesity is a visible condition and her weight loss was naturally going to attract attention in our size-obsessed culture. She handled it badly by going all-out with the diet and exercise story (and making shedloads of cash from it); could she not have said something like "I realised I was harming my health and I took action against it" then refused to comment further? It's like the whole Gillian Taylforth thing - hardly anyone read the original 'news' report but as soon as a case was made out of it, her motorway shenanigans became known even among people who couldn't name her Eastenders character.

Carly Spinner 3 Jun at 01:38 PM

Who cares?

Honestly!
I for one still think Fern is lovely and I have no desire to turn on her just because she did something which, quite frankly is her own bloody business.

Helen 3 Jun at 02:56 PM

Fern... still lovely

What news to wake up to! Good on her for that honest but somewhat excruciating confession on This Morning er, yesterday morning. She is right, it is her own bloody business, and of course she wouldn't phone the Sunday papers as soon as she has had it done. In fact am I the only one thinking that it took a while to see the results 2 years later? One of the other issues here of course is that, although people moribidly obese with BMIs of 50-80 do qualify for this op on the NHS, Fern wouldn't, so she must have paid a fair amount of wonga. Which of course is up to her. I am sure she didn't lie when she said she has been eating less and exercising more, but I will be scouring the shrivelled copies of BEST in the A&E coffee room tonight just to check. I say good for Fern if she is feeling and looking better for it, but
I can't help thinking that the Daily Mail reading contingent of This Morning's audience won't be so forgiving.

Helen Of Troy 3 Jun at 06:00 PM

You're not the only one...

who thought that it took a while for the results to show. Having said that, I'm glad it wasn't a drastic drop and we have instead a very healthy-looking Fern who in turn is obviously pleased with the outcome. As long as she's happy and healthy, who cares how she did it?

4 Jun at 01:41 PM

Eve wondered...

Why newspaper and magazine circulations are falling? Because they are completely out of touch on what the masses care about. Re Fern, yes her own body and her own business. I would personally be mortified if the papers got wind of everything I got up to - should we have a front page on bikini wax? maybe facial hair? what about post pregnancy aprons? I know in growing hair on legs!!! That has to be winner. Leave the poor woman alone I say, and get back to doing some proper journalism!