Exclusive: Penny Lancaster opens up on 'criticising her body' as she admits that weight loss jabs aren't for her

Penny Lancaster opened up on her relationship with her body in an exclusive interview with woman&home, admitting that while she's "all or nothing" when it comes to slimming, weight loss jabs aren't for her.

The 54-year-old model and TV host sat down with us to chat all things marriage, career and menopause - confessing that she was self-conscious of her body when she first met husband, Rod Stewart.

"As a model, I was constantly analysing and criticising my body. Whether it was my hyperhidrosis [excessive sweating], my crooked toes from ballet or a stretch mark," Penny tells us.

"When I first met Rod, we were by a pool and I was thinking, ‘Has he seen that stretch mark? Surely he expects perfection!’"

Explaining that going on a serious diet is something she had never considered until after some lockdown indulgence, Penny says that shedding a few pounds helped her feel like herself again.

"I went on a diet with shakes, and felt like I’d got my mojo back. Rod said ‘Your spark’s come back’ because I had been getting down on myself, partly because of the side effects of the menopause," she shares.

When it comes to maintaining her slim figure, Penny has an "all or nothing" attitude, and prefers a full-on detox to just cutting down.

She explains, "Occasionally I cleanse for a week, with diet shakes and no alcohol, just to drop a few pounds. For me, it’s all or nothing. I can’t just cut down on my portions and wine a little bit because that will take six months."

And while Penny has toyed with the idea of weight loss injections, ultimately, they're just not a route she wants to take.

She says, "Weight-loss jabs? There was a part of me that was tempted by them, but it’s a vicious cycle because once you get on that bandwagon, how the hell do you get off? Plus I believe they shrink your muscles, not just your fat!"

Going through the menopause was not something that was smooth sailing for Penny, who tells us that she was initially given anti-depressants to deal with her rollercoaster emotions.

"Six years ago, I ended up at the doctor’s, going ‘I can’t cope’. I kept crying and I would disappear down the garden because I didn’t want the kids, Rod or the housekeeper to see," Penny recalls. "The doctor didn’t question my age, where I was hormonally, and there were no blood tests. He just said, ‘We’ll sort you out and give you antidepressants,’ and suggested I go to a therapist, which I did."

It wasn't until her Loose Women co-stars helped her to realise that it was the 'big M' causing her low mood that she explored HRT options.

"Until that point, I had not at all thought about menopause. I thought menopause was for old retired women, not younger working women. I slowly came off the antidepressants and went on HRT, and I’ve never looked back," Penny adds.