Coleen Nolan has revealed she was brutally put down by cruel TV bosses who said she was “too big” for primetime television in the early days of her career.
The 55-year-old opened up on her past horrific experiences while talking to Beverley Callard, Ann Summers CEO Jacquline Gold and Melanie Blake this week.
The regular Loose Women panellist also opened up on a number of other discrimination issues in the TV industry over the decades she has been in it.
Mother-of-three Coleen even claimed bosses once told her she was “too big” for a slot of primetime TV and suggested she get a gastric band to lose weight.
Coleen Nolan said TV bosses said she was ‘too big’ for primetime television (Image: Ken McKay/ITV/REX)
Coleen revealed: “I have had a head of a big TV company saying, ‘If you want to get in primetime television you should get a gastric band, you’re too big to present primetime’.
“I’ve had, ‘Oh, you’re getting on a bit now, so maybe you’re not right for primetime’.”
The presenter went on to make a valuable point that some of the men on primetime TV are “overweight” or “in their 60s and 70s”.
Winner Coleen Nolan during the Big Brother 2017 final at Elstree Studios in Borehamwood, Hertfordshire (Image: PA)
She added: “There doesn’t seem to be any women of a certain age or a certain size in primetime.”
During the chat, at A Girls Night In with Melanie Blake, a live online event to launch the latter’s new book Ruthless Women, Coleen didn’t hold back.
Coleen went on: “It’s better than it was years ago,” as she now regularly appears on ITV at lunchtime on Loose Women.
The Irish beauty rose to fame in a band with her sisters called The Nolans (Image: ITV)
Coleen said: “But equally, if you look at Loose Women, there isn’t another show on any channel that has that range of women all at once presenting a TV show.”
The star entered fame beside her famous sisters in their band, The Nolans.
As a member of The Nolans, she was a full-time member of the group from 1980 to 1994 and first performed on television in 1974.
From 2001 to 2002, Coleen co-presented the ITV daytime show This Morning.
In 2009 she competed on the fourth series of the ITV show Dancing on Ice, finishing in fourth place.
In 2012, Coleen appeared in the 10th series of the Channel 5 reality series Celebrity Big Brother, finishing as runner-up.
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
