Steps star Claire Richards says she was pressured to shed extra pounds to reach the music trade: ‘I obtained skinny for the band’

Steps singer Claire Richards is about to launch her second solo album, Euphoria, but the star has opened up concerning the stress she confronted on the star of her profession. 

The 46-year-old has revealed her journey into the music trade wasn’t clean crusing and he or she was made very conscious that her voice would not be sufficient to ensure her success, she additionally wanted to look the half. 

The star confessed in an interview with The Sun on Wednesday that she was instructed if she wished to be within the pop group she must lose weight, regardless of being a measurement 10 on the time. 

Claire auditioned for Steps again in 1997, and he or she admitted that though it wasn’t proper, she agreed to lose half a stone for the chance. 

But the weightloss spiralled and he or she reached the purpose the place she obtained far too skinny.

Candid: Steps star Claire Richards, 46, has opened up about how she was pressured to shed extra pounds to reach the music trade in an interview with The Solar on Wednesday 

Weight journey: Claire’s weight has fluctuated through the years after she went as much as a measurement 20 and weighing 16 and a half stone in 2001 after the group cut up (pictured in 2008)

‘I wasn’t fats or large — I used to be a measurement ten or 12 — however I obtained skinny for the band.’

Reflecting on that interval she defined: ‘The older I get and the extra I give it some thought, in fact it affected me as a result of it simply despatched me on a spiral for years.’

Discussing the change in standard physique kinds through the years, Claire believes her determine again then would even have been in pattern these days, because of the curvy fashion made standard by the Kardashians. 

She remembers: ‘I used to be actually small on the highest, with little boobs, however I had a bum and thighs, which is a determine that individuals pay cash for now.’ 

But again within the 2000s everybody had no hips and no boobs, and Claire was pressured into shedding weight. 

In the present day, the star believes she could be handled very in another way and other people would not discuss to her in the identical manner.  

Steps gained chart topping success with their hits 5, 6, 7, 8 and Tragedy, and the band group, together with Lee Latchford-Evans, 48, Lisa Scott-Lee, 47, Faye Tozer, 47, and Ian ‘H’ Watkins, 47, are nonetheless going sturdy, scoring 4 UK No1 albums of their 25-year profession.

Claire got here to simply accept that if she wished to be within the public eye she must look a sure manner, particularly in a manufactured pop group. 

The star stated her co-producer Pete Waterman used to match them to ‘ABBA on pace’ and Claire would not know if whether or not she hadn’t misplaced the load she would have achieved the success she did. 

The gang: Claire’s joined Steps in 1997 when the band was fashioned alongside Lisa Scott-Lee, Lee Latchford-Evans, Faye Tozer and Ian H Watkins (clockwise from high left)

‘I obtained skinny for the band’: The singer revealed she was instructed if she wished to be within the pop group she must shed extra pounds, regardless of being a measurement 10 on the time (pictured in 1999)

Hit makers: Steps gained chart topping success with their hits 5, 6, 7, 8 and Tragedy and just lately carried out at Brighton Satisfaction (pictured in 2022)

Claire’s weight has fluctuated through the years after she went as much as a measurement 20 and weighing 16 and a half stone in 2001 after the group cut up.

It led to the discharge of her 2008 health DVD, 5 Step Fats Assault, which noticed her lose 5 stone and drop 5 costume sizes.

Claire is continuous to pursue her music profession together with her solo file, and says she feels extremely assured now in herself. 

However this is not the primary time the star has opened up about her physique struggles, after she opened up in July about her heartbreaking battle with anorexia following merciless feedback from file bosses within the Nineties.

Talking to Vicky Pattison on her The Secret To podcast, she spoke about how she developed an consuming dysfunction when she was placed on a 900-calorie a day food regimen comprising fish fingers and peas.

Solo profession: Claire is ready to launch her second solo album, Euphoria, as she opened up about how her struggles have made her the lady she is right now 

The Nineties gave beginning to the ‘Heroin Stylish’ look, pioneered by Kate Moss, wherein dauntingly skinny silhouettes had been desired among the many stars – one thing Claire revealed was enforced by her file label when she was being instructed to lose kilos.

Having began her struggles in The Scan-Dolls, Claire first band, she revealed: ‘It occurred once I was in TSD. They did it to all of us as a result of we had been all fairly curvy women. I used to be in all probability a [size] 10 or a 12 and wasn’t large in any respect […]

‘However within the music form of world and at the moment that complete Kate Moss, heroine-chic, was a factor they usually wished everybody to be actually, actually skinny…

‘So, we had been all placed on a food regimen. That food regimen was attention-grabbing as a result of we had been inspired to eat fish fingers, peas and baked beans and have like a 900-calorie food regimen.’