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[ An Interview with Nouveau News ]

Hi, I’m Lea Walker. I’m 36 years old and I was born in Nottingham in 1970, the baby of the family with 3 older brothers.

School at the age of 5 wasn’t an enjoyable time in my life as I was bullied for being too thin. I didn’t understand why kids were so cruel to me at that time, it’s only when you get older you understand.

Anyway, my mum and dad thought a hobby would help so I got in to horse riding and had lots of pets. When I went to junior school I was bullied again, this time because I was from a poor family. I suppose because dad was a miner and mum stayed at home to look after us we didn’t have much money.

When I went to secondary school I had put on weight - a hell of a lot of weight actually - but despite that, I went to acting school and loved it. I was lucky enough to appear on shows like “Emu’s World” (with Rod Hull and Emu) and a couple of regional TV shows.

I always wanted to be an actress, but felt that if you don’t have a sliver spoon in your mouth or you’re not thin and beautiful enough you simply can’t do it. So I went to work in a factory, this I did until I was 23. I think it was at the age of about 18 that my problems with my weight really began.

When I was 23, my son Henri was born and I put on about 12 stones in weight. I weighed 22 stones and had a 62 inch waist. I couldn’t even walk properly. I did manage to lose my weight through strict dieting but went down to 6 stones.

I’ve had quite a lot of surgery to remove excess skin plus a nose job to repair the damage inflicted by an ex-boyfriend. At this point I started to get offers of work – modelling, documentaries, chat shows etc and it paid well so I carried on with it. After all, why wouldn’t I? I was a single mum and had to support my son!

When Big Brother 7 came up there were 100,000 applicants that auditioned and I was amazed that they actually picked me! It was a dream come true for Henri, my Mum and myself.

Our lives have changed beyond belief since the show. I’ve met so many famous people like Louis Walsh, Will Young, Simon Cowell, Sharon Osborn, Take That (yeah!), Westlife, Michael Douglas… far too many to mention them all. I’ve been on this morning with Richard & Judy, 8 out of 10 cats, The Friday Nite Project, all the glossies, all the red tops, so many PA’s (personal appearances).

I hope this gives you a small insight to my life & background. If there’s anything else you’d like to know just drop me a line. I can’t promise to answer personally but I appreciate each and every person who has taken the time to visit my site.

Love Lea x