Exclusive
'I LIKE MY MUFFIN TOP'
From teen mum to TV queen — Stacey Solomon on loving your body and celebrating imperfections
When it comes to body confidence, you won’t find many people more level-headed or defiant than Stacey Solomon.
Put simply, she couldn’t give a flying fig what anybody else thinks. Because apart from anything else, hers is a body that conceived, grew, birthed and fed two children, and Stacey, quite rightly, couldn’t be prouder of it.
12
“I actually think my body’s really cool,” she says. “I like my little muffin top. I think it’s cool. I like my boobs. OK, they might be lower than the average 28 year old’s, but I think they’re all right.
“I just think: ‘Oh my god, I’ve produced and breastfed two children. How amazing is that?’”
Over the last year, Stacey has become a poster girl for body positivity. Her frank, hilarious, warts-and-all social media posts celebrating her so-called imperfections attract hundreds of thousands of likes and comments from followers taking heart from her DGAF brand of honesty.
Last summer she posted a video demonstrating some inventive new uses for her “muffin top, saggy boobies and stretch marks” (her words).
12
The muffin top gave useful padding for extra comfort while sunbathing, her boobs doubled up as a handbag owing to their ability to keep various possessions tucked underneath them, and the stretch marks provided hours of fun for the kids.
“Just look at them!” she gasps in the clip as the children draw over the lines across her hips with felt-tip pens.
“Never been happier!”
The reaction from her followers was huge.
I like my muffin top – my body's really cool
Stacey on body confidence
“It’s so funny what ends up being a thing, isn’t it?” she says today. “I was on holiday being really silly, and I just thought I’m going to put out a video before anyone can take a picture of me and write something horrible.
"But when I realised the reaction it got, it just goes to show people are so sick of everyone looking perfect all the time.
“With airbrushing, you’re completely changing the image. I can’t fathom why anyone would want to reshape their face, body or nose – whatever you’re putting out to people isn’t even achievable.
"If you’re going to do it, at least say: ‘OK, this isn’t what I look like, it’s airbrushed.’”
12
It’s taken Stacey several years to reach this point. In the past she’s been deeply hurt by comments over her looks, but she’s got to the stage where it genuinely no longer bothers her.
The Loose Women Body Stories campaign last year also had a profound effect on her outlook, seeing Stacey and her ITV colleagues strip down to their swimwear for a picture exclusively revealed by Fabulous.
“Here were women I aspire to be like, who had insecurities about their body that I couldn’t even see.
"Women who are at the top of their industry, intelligent, talented, smart, funny, everything I hope to be, and yet they still don’t feel good enough. And that had a massive impact on me – just what is this all about?
12
“I’m not overweight, I’m not unhealthy, I’ve had two children – but that apparently isn’t good enough for some people.
"Becoming a mum made me respect my body and made me think: ‘Well, of course it looks like that.’ So I can rationalise.
“But being truly happy with myself has come from having people around me who love me no matter what the hell I look like.
"And also, always being honest and knowing that everything we buy is based on advertising, and advertising is based on the impossible. So we are just brainwashed from day dot to want to look like something that isn’t even real.
12
“Are we really going to encourage people to hate themselves just so they buy the next face cream or the latest pair of Spanx? It’s crazy.”
Stacey also claims there’s something sinister going on in the world of cosmetic surgery, where young women are feeling pressured to have nips and tucks.
“There’s a whole underground industry scaring young women into doing it. I went for a facial the other day, and the woman honestly asked me if I wanted some Botox.
"And I said: ‘Oh no, I really don’t like Botox,I don’t want any.’ And she was like: ‘You really should. You have to consider doing this now before your skin starts to wrinkle naturally.’
Stacey Solomon confesses to having toe hairs longer than her eyelashes
“She was basically feeding me this whole: ‘If you don’t get this done now, you’re going to look like a bulldog in five minutes’ time!’ And that was just going for a facial.
"It’s happening everywhere. My friend said she went to the dentist and they’re offering her Botox and fillers. I mean…
“If I start getting Botox at 28, by the time I’m 38 is it even going to work any more? What am I going to have to do? Face lifts? Peels?
"It’s just so scary.
12
“And everyone looks the same. I’ve never seen such high eyebrows and cheekbones in my life. It’s depressing.”
It’s this candour that’s set to make Dagenham girl Stacey a brilliant new digital columnist for Fabulous.
You will be able to read her unique take on the world from tomorrow, and Stacey can’t wait to get cracking.
Since reaching the finals of The X Factor back in 2009 and winning I’m A Celebrity! a year later when her natural charm captured viewers’ hearts, she has kept herself in the public eye, making the most of each opportunity and establishing herself as an everywoman who people like and can relate to.
Stacey Solomon explains how she -almost- got engaged to boyfriend Joe Swash
But it’s only in the last 18 months since joining the panel of Loose Women that she says she’s truly found her voice.
“When you come from a certain area and have a certain accent, or you’re bubbly, people tend to [equate] that with not being intelligent.
"And after a while of people saying you’re a bit stupid, you start to believe that.
"But Loose Women has completely turned that around for me and made me feel my opinions are valid, and I’m really grateful for that.”
12
She particularly credits fellow panellists Janet Street Porter, 71, and Jane Moore, 55, for helping to boost her confidence, as well as opening her mind up to new ideas.
Stacey wants to learn, and isn’t afraid to change her opinion – she’s planning on doing an Open University politics degree to further broaden her mind and understanding.
She’s come a long way since having her first baby aged just 18. Her eldest son Zachary is about to turn 10, but the stigma of having been a teenage mum still rankles.
“It was quite embarrassing actually. People would look [down their noses] at me. For the first three months I did not take it well – I was really depressed and I struggled to bond with him. I thought I could never raise a child or protect a child. I remember making toast and thinking: ‘Urgh, I can’t even cook toast, how can I have a baby?’”
Postnatal depression took hold, and Stacey found those early months incredibly challenging. She carried on going to college, where she was studying performing arts, taking the baby with her and breastfeeding during class, but she was just going through the motions.
12
“If you look into science, biologically I was probably the perfect age to have a child, but mentally not at all. It was difficult.
“I did a documentary on postnatal depression a few years ago and the best thing I got from it was listening to other people who felt exactly the same as I did. Because for years I thought Zach would know I’d felt that way, and be affected in some way or damaged.
“You feel responsible for any blip in their life – you want them to have the smoothest run possible, and if it’s something you feel you’ve done wrong, the guilt is tremendous.
“Before you have kids, you feel like you’re invincible – the world’s your oyster. But when you have a baby, suddenly you feel really vulnerable.
“I’m sure it would have been even harder if there had been social media like today, where you see people with their new babies like: ‘Oh, I’m instantly in love, my world has changed, everything’s amazing,’ and there’s a picture of them looking great and baby sleeping in their arms. Mine was screaming unless he was surgically attached to my breast, and I looked like crap.”
12
Her experience with second son Leighton, now five, was much more positive, and she wouldn’t rule out more children with partner Joe Swash – although there’s much to consider before that happens.
“I’m one of seven, and I’ve always wanted a big family,” she says. “But I want Zach and Leighton to be completely settled and stable before I even think about having another one. I don’t want to put anything off-balance or make them feel pushed out. In theory, yes, I’d have loads of children, but in reality it’ll be a huge decision for me.”
If I have a relationship, it's all or nothing
Stacey on romance
And Joe? He’s already dad to Harry, 10, but would he like more?
“I think he would. We’ve got this whole complex family situation that we need to make sure is absolutely perfect and the time’s just right. I don’t want to rush into anything. I don’t want to be in the same scenario again.”
She’s referring to the fact that Zach and Leighton have different fathers.
Stacey has spoken before about the guilt – that word again – she feels over this, although she says she’s always done her best by her boys, and that staying in an unhappy relationship would never be an option.
12
“When your kids say: ‘Why doesn’t daddy live with us?’ or ‘Why can’t I see Leighton’s daddy?’ you’re always reminded, and it does make your tummy turn a little bit. When I got pregnant with Zach, his dad didn’t want a baby. We were so young, and I don’t resent him for saying: ‘That’s absolutely not what I want.’ He still sees Zach regularly.
“And I wasn’t in a healthy relationship with Leighton’s dad, so I had to take myself away from that in my children’s best interests.
“I do often feel upset that they might be sad about it, but there’s nothing I could have done to change that. It would have been worse for me to stay, so it is what it is. Both dads are involved in their lives.”
She and Joe, 36, have their own homes, and there are no plans to move in together for the time being. But the relationship is for keeps – Stacey wouldn’t be with him if she didn’t think it was forever.
12
“Because otherwise what’s the point?” she asks.
They’d known each other for years when they finally got together at the end of 2015, after Stacey appeared as a guest on ITV2 spin-off I’m A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here! Now!, which Joe co-hosts.
“It was five days in Australia without the children. We were alone and could really get to know each other, and I thought: ‘I quite like this guy.’
“It took me by surprise because I wasn’t looking for a relationship. Even though I fancied him, I didn’t really think anything would come of it, so I just thought: ‘This is nice but I’ll probably never see him again…’”
She pauses a beat.
“But it turns out he’s quite persistent!”
When they returned to the UK and Stacey realised she was falling for him, she laid it on the line.
12
“He asked me out, and I was like: ‘Hmm, no, I don’t want to be in a relationship unless I want to be in it forever, and so if this is just a date then no thank you.’
“I couldn’t have one-night stands. I don’t want to go out, have sex and never see them again. I would never do that. If I have a relationship, it’s all or nothing.”
Thankfully, Joe was on the same page and the rest is history. One of the issues putting her off marriage, though, is the thought of not being able to ring-fence everything she’s earned and saved over the last decade.
Stacey Solomon struggles to snowboard in the snow as she takes on the Beast from the East
“I don’t want anyone to have the ability to take half of everything I’ve worked hard for.
"I’ve set aside money for my children to make sure they’ve got a roof over their head, and I still have to work really hard to carry on making that happen for however long I’ve got left on my mortgage.
"I wouldn’t ever want to be in a position where that could be taken away from them, so I have to be sensible.
"If I can’t pay my mortgage, no one else is going to pay it for me.”
Feeling sociable?
Favourite platform?
Twitter – I like being able to be silly or funny there.
Funniest person on Twitter?
I really laugh at Phillip Schofield’s tweets. I love that he replies to people.
Best Instagram feed?
I follow people back so I just have random people I don’t even know on there. Look at this [she scrolls through her phone] – pictures of strangers’ kids!
Last DM?
It was from Mother Shoppers [celebrity stylists]. They’re so cute. They just sent me a picture of us all on Loose Women.
Are you on Facebook?
I do have a private one but I never use it. I can’t think of anything worse. I don’t really have many friends anyway!
MOST READ IN FABULOUS
When she looks back at that 18-year-old single mum and considers how much life has changed, she can’t quite believe it.
“I never thought that I’d ever be able to afford a property. So I’m a billion per cent more financially stable than I ever thought I’d be.
"I’m so grateful for that.”
Stacey Solomon giggles as she tells Alan Titchmarsh she has a crush on him
- Additional photography: Instagram/Stacey Solomon, Rex Features, Getty Images Hair: Dino Pereira using Kiehl’s Since 1851 Magic Elixir Make-up: Aimee Adams using Urban Decay
- Styling: Nana Acheampong, Stylist’s assistant: Maddie Burrough
Topics