Michelle McManus made a painful confession about her appearance during an interview today (Thursday, April 2).
The 45-year-old singer, who shot to fame in 2003 after winning Pop Idol, was on Good Morning Britain earlier today. The star discussed her new documentary, as well as social media and the “male gaze”.
It’s important to us that you never miss our articles when searching for stories! We have all the latest TV & Celebrity news to share with our community of loyal readers.
Click here and tick Entertainmentdaily.com
Michelle McManus on GMB
Speaking to Kate Garraway and Richard Madeley, Michelle opened up about her new doc, Michelle McManus Sings for the Pope.
After discussing the programme, which airs on BBC Scotland tomorrow (Friday, April 3), Kate brought up the subject of social media and what it would have been like if it had been around during Michelle’s Pop Idol days.
“You chatted on Good Morning Britain at the end of last year, things are going so well for you, and we’ve talked a lot on this programme about the intensity of social media for artists, I know you’ve had your brushes with the difficulties with that, really, really hurtful,” Kate said.
“If Pop Idol had social media, it would have made it more difficult for you? Would you have liked to have seen it banned for under 16s?” she then asked.
“Without a doubt, one of the things I’m so grateful for was no social media at that point,” Michelle confessed.
Michelle McManus’ sad confession about her appearance
The singer then continued, saying: “You’ve got to remember in the early noughties to be a woman who looked like me, it was just ‘computer says no’.
“It was very much through the male gaze at that point, and I wasn’t seen as someone who was attractive to men, or someone men would want a relationship with,” she explained. “So it didn’t really matter how many people voted for me, it was a case of, we don’t know what to do with you… you’re not attractive enough.”
Michelle continued, saying that dealing with the press at that point “was intense enough, being able to not go on my phone and see that, I actually think it would have been so damaging to my mental health”.
In 2024, Michelle revealed that she’d lost a whopping 9 stone. “Before this change of lifestyle, I was stuck in a cycle, endlessly searching for that elusive magic diet wand, believing it was out there, waiting to instantly turn me into the best version of myself,” she said on Instagram at the time.
“I’d daydream about finding it, waving my wand, and bingo, becoming the person I always thought I needed to be to find happiness. But here’s the truth, that magic wand doesn’t exist. What I’ve discovered instead is something even more powerful – the right support.”
View this post on Instagram
Michelle supports social media ban
In her GMB interview, Michelle said that as a mother to two young children, she’s in favour of a social media ban.
“I can barely deal with social media, and I’m not really sure, unless the social media companies are going to demonstrate in a way that they really are going to take this seriously, and protect kids online, that’s not filtered down to where I am now, I’m not seeing that,” she said.
“It’s not that I don’t want kids on the internet, my wee boy has an iPad, at school, social media, it’s a dark hole to go down. It’s hard to navigate.”
Michelle McManus Sings for the Pope airs tomorrow night (Friday, April 3) on BBC Scotland and BBC iPlayer from 9pm.
GMB airs on weekdays from 6am on ITV1 and ITVX.
What do you think of this story? Tell us on our Facebook page @EntertainmentDailyFix. We want to hear your thoughts!