News
The Truth About... Super Skinny Pregnancies
Thursday 26th March | 9pm
This Spring ITV1 gives Louise and 2 other female personalities the opportunity to explore how women strive to achieve supposed physical perfection in The Truth About Beauty season. Following last year’s The Truth About Size Zero (with Louise) and The Truth About Binge Drinking, each of the three programmes focuses on a different subject, drawing attention to society’s obsession with looks and appearance.
Taking part are Louise in a programme which follows her investigation into the pressure within today’s society on body image; Fearne Cotton who investigates and experiences ‘pro-ana’ websites; and finally Coleen Nolan who explores and experiences first hand some of the lengths that some women will go to in an attempt to stave off the aging process. Each of these three films charts the progress of the host as they examine the true price of beauty and uncover the dangers of wanting to look better, thinner and younger.
In her programme:
The Truth About . . . Super Skinny Pregnancies
Louise investigates the pressure on women to maintain a glamorous pregnancy, and looks at why some women attempt to obliterate all signs of it immediately after their baby is born. Louise talks to other women who are pregnant or have had babies in the public eye, and meets the ordinary mums and mums-to-be who are influenced by the stories they read in magazines. How much pressure do they feel to live up to the Yummy Mummy dream? And she’ll also meet pregorexic women – a worryingly growing band of mums-to-be who are starving themselves and their unborn babies.
Layla Smith, Controller of Alternative Programmes at ITV says: “Women in 2009 are faced with more pressure than ever to look good. These three programmes examine the stories behind the ideal and reveal the dangers in its pursuit.”
Louise says: “Having children is an amazing experience, but it can also be very challenging during and after the pregnancy. The pressure in today's society on body image can leave women very conscious of their post-natal shape. I wanted to get out there and see how women reacted, looking at the different extremes women go to. Making the programme was also a personal journey for me as I was eight months pregnant with my second son Beau Henry. Working in a world that focuses on body image I was mindful that this was the first time I'd been filmed pregnant. I'm not sure whether the pressure will ever ease on women to be body perfect, but I hope by making this programme they won't feel alone.”

