This Morning presenter Alison Hammond struggled to hold back tears as she discussed her own experience during a Dear Deidre phone-in about obesity.
The 47-year-old got emotional on the ITV morning chat show as she explained: “It’s so hard, people don’t realise.
“People look down on people just because they’re so big and they can’t actually help it.
“I’ve had obesity all my life, and what it is is your regulation system is out of whack.
“You can’t control wanting to eat all the time and I think a lot of the time people don’t realise obesity is a disease, you can’t help wanting to eat all the time.
The phone in today hit close to home for Alison. Your vulnerability is inspiring, and you are an incredible role model. ❤️
For help and support, please visit: https://t.co/HvtrkWvjH2 pic.twitter.com/Lwk10QMajr
— This Morning (@thismorning) March 4, 2022
“When you’re in it, it is really difficult because you want to eat and you want all the bad things and you know you don’t look great, sorry it really touches me.”
Battling through her emotions, Hammond urged the NHS to treat obesity as a disease as so many people are turning to surgery to help “because we don’t know what to do”.
Later in the show, co-host Dermot O’Leary called Hamond an “inspiration” and said he was “very proud” of her for speaking out about her experience.
Speaking about her emotional reaction to the discussion, Hammond added: “I felt like I was watching the show, that’s what happened, I was in the moment.
“It’s tough though when you’re big, people think you’re lazy and stuff like that and you eat loads and loads of food.
“It just got to me and I felt like I was at home watching the show and I lost it.”