Vanessa Feltz has opened up about her love life and dramatic weight loss transformation in a candid new interview. The 64-year-old presenter appeared on the What's My Age Again podcast, hosted by comedian Katherine Ryan.
Fear of Being Alone
During the conversation, Vanessa admitted she remained in 'ghastly relationships' because she was terrified of being alone. She revealed that she had to have her gallbladder removed after losing 'an enormous amount of weight' in 2008.
Three years after her split from fiancé Ben Ofoedu, following his infidelity, Vanessa described herself as 'reluctantly single'. She told Katherine: 'Questing. Searching. You know I seek him here. I seek him there. You know single, but reluctantly. I don't like it. I haven't managed to adjust to it.'
She added: 'I come home, and it's an empty, dark, rather cold house and there's no one there to say "was it all right"... There's just no one. And it's so boring. It's so quiet. It's so tedious. Your own thoughts roam and get bigger and bigger. And I already know my own thoughts. I don't want to know more about my own thoughts.'
Vanessa explained that the fear of solitude led her to cling to 'doomed' relationships. 'That's why I stayed so long in these doomed and hellish, sinister, ghastly relationships, because I just couldn't face the spectre of being on my own. It was a mistake. I do regret it. I'm not proud of it, and I don't recommend it to anyone. And I wish I hadn't done it, but I did do it, and that was the reason why I did it. I just couldn't bear to come out the other end and just be alone. And now I have to just get on with it, don't I?'
Past Relationships
Vanessa first met Ben in 2005 after divorcing surgeon Michael Kurer in 2000, who she discovered had also allegedly cheated. She was married to Michael for 17 years, and they share daughters Allegra, 40, and Saskia, 37. After her split with Ben, he admitted to being unfaithful a second time, despite being forgiven for earlier infidelity.
Weight Loss Journey
Elsewhere in the interview, Vanessa discussed her intense weight loss in 2008. She lost a staggering three stone but yo-yo dieting led to a gastric band in 2010, later removed due to complications, followed by a gastric bypass in 2019.
Katherine revealed the 'biological' age of guests on the show, and Vanessa reflected on how years of extreme dieting might have affected it. She said: 'I did lose an enormous amount of weight, I think it was in 2008. Just through diet and exercise, relentless diet, relentless exercise, relentless privation, relentless, you know all of that. And then I did have to have my gallbladder out. And funnily enough there were pieces in the paper now about the fat jabs, saying some people are having to have their gallbladder out. Presumably because losing weight at speed isn't good for gallbladders.'
She added humorously: 'I'll say this is the only podcast I've ever done where I've mentioned my gallbladder. It's a very intimate part of my anatomy I no longer have. I don't normally discuss it in public but anyway, the lack of a gallbladder, it's affected my whole personality.'
