Pop Idol winner Michelle McManus has showed off the results of her jaw-dropping nine stone weight loss.
The Scottish singer, 44, rose to fame on the second and final series of the UK talent show in 2003, and now co-hosts The Afternoon Show on BBC Radio Scotland.
Earlier this year she revealed her significant weight loss was achieved through ‘calorie deficit and introducing exercise into my life’.
Now she’s posted a series of swimwear snaps from a holiday in Spain, showing off her new figure.
‘Thank you so much to the mega talented @holbaxsews for creating some of my gorgeous swimwear and accessories for Marbella 🤩 I felt so lovely all weekend ❤️😘🥰💦☀️🍹💃🏼 #marbella #plussize #swimwear #glamswimwear,’ she posted on Instagram this week.
One of the photos showed Michelle smiling while posing in front of a pool in a blue and yellow set and matching sunglasses.
Others showed her basking in the sunlight and holding a cocktail in the garden.
She was quickly flooded with comments, with many saying she looked ‘fabulous’ and ‘stunning’.
After finding herself in the limelight more than 20 years ago, Michelle has been open about the difficulties she faced with people commenting on her looks, but she’s now inspirationally opened up about finding her self worth.
Sharing a post on Instagram showcasing her nine-stone weight loss, the All This Time singer wrote last month: ‘Sometimes it’s okay to stop and take stock of what you’ve achieved.
‘For the past year or so I’ve been making changes in my life to help me reach the place in which I now find myself. Happily it is a place of good health and contentment.
‘I love both versions of myself in the above two photos. The image on the left was taken in late 2022, eight months after I’d given birth to my second beautiful baby and I’d just started a new job presenting The Afternoon Show on @bbcradioscot.
‘Even though life was going great for me, at the time I was very tired both physically and mentally. If I’m honest, I was also struggling with my fitness – caring for two babies under three was my priority and working on myself was not something I had dedicated time to considering, let alone doing.’
She went on: ‘The photograph on the right was taken a few weeks ago, behind the scenes at a photoshoot I did in Glasgow. In total I’ve dropped 9st through calorie deficit and introducing exercise into my life.
‘Looking at these images side by side, I can honestly say the numbers attached to both are almost irrelevant. It’s not about the label on the clothing or what it says on the scales, but instead I’ve learned it’s truly all about how you feel about yourself. Life gets in the way, situations change and priorities shift.’
Michelle concluded her post by saying: ‘Someone introduced me to a great quote recently that really resonated with me: “The only lifelong relationship we’ll ever have is the one with ourselves”.
‘It is something I’ve learned too, loving yourself and feeling self-worth is so important. It’s taken me such a long time to understand that, but thankfully now, at 44-years-old, I finally get it, and perhaps that is the biggest and best transformation of all.’
While the comments on her post were turned off, several followers left messages of support on Michelle’s previous pictures, calling her ‘gorgeous’ and saying she looks ‘incredible’.
Michelle has previously spoken about how, during her stint on Pop Idol, she struggled with attention on her looks.
She said in 2016: ‘It was difficult, everyone wants to look the best they can look. I was only 24, I’d never been to London, it was always made such a big deal, I’ve been up and down, It’s always going to be a part of me.
‘I think it will always be a part of me, even if I was to lose all the weight and become a real skinny minny, it would still somehow be there.’
She added that she’s ‘happy’ with the way she is, but did say that she wanted to ‘wire her jaw up’ ahead of her wedding to partner Jeff Nimmo – who she shares two children with – in order to lose weight.
‘Everyone wants to lose weight for a wedding,’ she told Lorraine Kelly on her ITV programme.
Michelle elsewhere revealed last year, 20 years after winning Pop Idol, that not only would she not be able to go on the competition now, but she also wouldn’t let her daughter.
According to MailOnline, she said: ‘I was 23 at the time and I don’t think I’d be able to go through that now with social media. I don’t think I would have been mentally strong enough.’
She continued: ‘It was really difficult. I don’t know why I’m getting emotional now, it was twenty years ago.
‘One of the first articles that popped out said at the top “Can Michelle sing? Yes. Is she going to be a pop star? But come on lads, you wouldn’t would you?” And that’s where it went.’
She went on: ‘I felt such shame from some of the comments like I had let everyone down. I couldn’t understand why people had voted for me because of the comments.
‘I would say no now if my daughter asked to go on a show like that because of social media now.’
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This article was originally published on August 15, 2024.