A 00s TV star has opened up about feeling ‘confused emotions’ when her broadcasting career reignited after she lost weight.
Miquita Oliver, who was a fixture on screens after soaring to fame on Popworld with Simon Amstell, said the correlation between thinness and opportunity was ‘depressing.’
The 40-year-old made the comments during a frank conversation with friend Lily Allen about whether thin privilege existed and the societal pressure to conform to a certain body image.
On their podcast Miss Me?, Miquita said: ‘I find that a really difficult thing because when I lost loads of weight, my career came back.
‘I was also very focused, but [weight loss] was a huge part of it, and I have really confused emotions about that, because I’ve never been less good at my job, but I lost a lot of opportunities because of the way I was looking.
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‘When I sorted out the way I looked – i.e. I lost a lot of weight – the opportunities came knocking again, and that you just can’t deny.’
She continued: ‘But I understand the currency of my industry, so I wasn’t that surprised, it was kind of one of the reasons I wanted to get in shape.
‘But it’s of course a bit depressing that I think if I was still three stone heavier, I probably wouldn’t be working.’
Lily, 39, also shared her experience of public perception when she lost weight in the mid-00s, saying that she was praised for her appearance but was ‘miserable.’
She explained: ‘I feel that I’m in a pretty good place with my health and fitness although, in the last six weeks since I left America, I haven’t worked out once.
‘But I do know that in the early days of my career, there was a point of time in time when I lost a load of weight – I think it was like 2009 or 2010 – and I was miserable.
‘I would go to sleep for three or four days at a time and not eat. And I was utterly miserable. But then I would go to events, and people would say, “You look amazing. You never look better”.
‘It’s horrible that we place so much value on it. But, as you just said, it’s undeniable. It is what it is.’
Miquita was hired as a presenter on Popworld in 2001 when she was aged 16 and hosted the music show for five years.
She then went on to present T4 until 2010when she was overheard insulting Kesha by the singer’s management and her contract was not renewed.
In the mid-00s, Miquita hosted shows on BBC Radio One and BBC Radio 1Xtra but claimed to Heat Magazine that she was fired after calling Fearne Cotton a ‘devil woman’ in NME.
In 2011, she filed for bankruptcy after non-payment of a tax bill and two years later fronted documentary Young, British and Broke: The Truth about Payday Loans for the BBC.
After that programme, Miquita was rarely seen on screen but made a brief comeback as part of the four-part BBC series 24 Hours in the Past in 2015.
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More recently, she has appeared with her mother Andi Oliver on Celebrity Gogglebox and also joined her on BBC’s The Caribbean with Andi and Miquita.