Claire Richards, one of the five-member girl group Steps, has opened up about experiencing an eating disorder in the Nineties, before she joined the band. The singer, 45, said she went on a restrictive diet that only allowed her to eat 900 calories a day, with her meals comprising of just “fish fingers, peas and baked beans”. Appearing on Vicky Pattison’s The Secret To podcast on Thursday’s (20 July) episode, Richards claimed she was told she had to lose weight even though she was a UK size 10 to 12 at the start of her career in the music industry. She added that Kate Moss’s “heroin-chic” thin look was what people aspired to at the time when it came to body image, which in turn encouraged her dieting. “It happened when I was in TSD,” Richards said, referring to her first band, The Scan-Dolls. “They did it to all of us because we were all quite curvy girls. I was probably a [size] 10 or a 12 and wasn’t big at all. “But in the music world, and at that time, that whole Kate Moss, heroin-chic, was a thing and they wanted everyone to be really, really skinny. “So, we were all put on a diet. That diet was interesting because we were encouraged to eat fish fingers, peas and baked beans and have like a 900-calorie diet.” After she auditioned for Steps, Richards claimed she was still under pressure to lose weight. “The audition for Steps was [in] 1997 and by that time I had cut my hair really short, stupidly, and I was wearing this stripey catsuit which I wore in the video for ‘Last Thing on My Mind’,” she explained. “And I always used to tie a hoodie around my waist because I was really conscious of my bum because I thought I had a massive bum… They sat me down, did my audition and they said, ‘Oh, we really like you. We want you to be in the band, but you’re going to have to lose weight’. “It set me on a pathway of not really eating for four-and-a-half years.” Richards said that the years spent worrying about her body image damaged her confidence so much that she has never managed to fully regain it. “I think I’m much better than I was,” she reassured listeners, but added: “But I don’t think I ever will get rid of it completely because it’s played such a massive part of my life for such a long time. “I think I probably was anorexic. You know, I manged to kind of stop what I was doing to myself, but that went from not eating at all, to overeating.” The “It’s The Way You Make Me Feel” singer said she went from being “dangerously thin” to weighing 16.5 stone (104kg) at her heaviest. Richards has previously spoken out about her struggle with disordered eating and expressed how anxious she was about image filters that are popular on the internet today. Last May, she appeared as a guest on Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s Spinning Plates podcast and said: “I’ve gone from being dangerously thin to obese and I honestly do believe it’s all part of the same… if it’s an eating disorder, it’s one extreme to the other. “There is a massive lack of understanding, generally, and I think especially on the overweight side of it. I think people just look at anybody who’s overweight [and think] that they’re lazy and have got no discipline. “I’m not lazy and I definitely have discipline but I found myself in that position,” she continued. “I struggle everyday and I’ve managed to maintain a good size now for a long time but it’s a battle everyday and people just don’t understand that psychological side of it generally.” For anyone struggling with the issues raised in this piece, eating disorder charity Beat’s helpline is available 365 days a year on 0808 801 0677. NCFED offers information, resources and counselling for those suffering from eating disorders, as well as their support networks. Visit eating-disorders.org.uk or call 0845 838 2040. Read More Bye bye swimwear round, hello body positivity: How beauty pageants became less ugly Prince Harry and Meghan weren’t allowed to fly Air Force One with Biden after Queen’s funeral, report says ‘Just awful’: Man accused of ‘selfish’ behaviour after proposing to girlfriend at their graduation Should I keep my windows closed or open during a heatwave? Why am I so lethargic in the heat? 6 hacks for handling the heatwave at a festival

As extreme heat dominates news headlines, the gate-keepers of global capital are failing to keep pace with a

This dream job includes a week of free hotel stays and pays $15,000 (plus other perks).

Reality star Jenna Lyons has revealed that her hair and teeth are not real, as a result of her rare genetic disorder. The Real Housewives of New York City (RHONYC) star, 55, opened up about living with Bloch-Sulzberger syndrome, which is also known as incontinentia pigmenti (IP). In some people, the condition can cause dental abnormalities, missing nails, and bald patches on the scalp (alopecia). In an appearance on The View on Wednesday (19 July), Lyons said the disorder was the reason she entered the fashion world, because she “wanted to look better”. “All my teeth are fake. I paid a lot of money for them. My hair is also fake. I can take it off. It’s like a hat, it’s not a wig,” she detailed. “My eyelashes are fake. I have no eyebrows, and I also have scars all over my skin. “I was really conscious. It’s one of the reasons I went into fashion. I wanted to look better. I was constantly trying to find ways to fit in,” the fashion designer, who was previously the executive creative director and president of J Crew, said. Her condition led her to create her own range of false eyelashes, called Love Seen, because existing ones were too large and did not look natural on her. “When I was doing a lot of red carpets, I kept trying to find eyelashes that looked good and they were just huge one me,” she recalled. “I couldn’t wear them. “I remember talking to my makeup artist Troi Ollivierre and I was going on Oprah show actually and Oprah walked into the green room. He looked at me and he looked at her and he’s like, ‘Get back in that chair. We’re going to put some lashes on you and get some extensions’. “Because she’s got a presence and I look like a wet rat,” she joked, adding that she “couldn’t find what I wanted, so I created a line of lashes that aren’t as over-the-top”. IP is believed to affect just 1.2 in 100,000 individuals globally, with most patients being female. It is characterised by abnormalities in skin, eyes, teeth and the central nervous system. According to the National Organisation for Rare Diseases, the most common symptom of IP are changes in the skin. Patients may develop blisters and boils that may turn into lesions that look like warts, as well as thick scabs and areas of darkened skin due to increased pigmentation. During the interview, Lyons also spoke out about being publicly outed as a lesbian while in the midst of her divorce from former husband Vincent Mazeau in 2011, before she was ready to let the world know. Lyons, the first openly gay New York Housewife, said she was “so overwhelmed with everything that was happening in my life” that, when asked to confirm if she was a lesbian at the time, she “just said yes”. She said that the experience was “so hard” because she had not yet come out to her family and friends. “I hadn’t really been in the public eye that much, it was all still new for me, and I didn’t expect anyone to care about what I was doing in my personal life and all of a sudden everyone cared,” she said. “It was so shocking to me. I was also not sure what the hell I was doing. It was all so new. I mean, I wasn’t [officially out] in any way, but I remember… the Post was calling out PR team, and they said, ‘Listen, can you get on the phone, we’re going to run this story, would you like to confirm or deny?’ “I jut said, ‘Confirm’ and it was like an out-of-body experience.” At the time, Lyons was in a relationship with Courtney Crangi. They have since separated, and Lyons is currently dating photographer Cass Bird. She has one child, son Beckett, whom she shares with Mazeau. Read More Bye bye swimwear round, hello body positivity: How beauty pageants became less ugly Prince Harry and Meghan weren’t allowed to fly Air Force One with Biden after Queen’s funeral, report says ‘Just awful’: Man accused of ‘selfish’ behaviour after proposing to girlfriend at their graduation Gemma Atkinson announces birth of second baby in heartwarming Instagram post Mom sparks backlash for piercing newborn’s ears in hospital Maria Menounos welcomes first baby via surrogate after pancreatic cancer diagnosis

For roughly a quarter century, US climate envoy John Kerry and his Chinese counterpart, Xie Zhenhua, have sought

Alef Education, an Abu Dhabi-based edtech firm, is considering an initial public offering in the United Arab Emirates

Texas' abortion restrictions -- some of the strictest in the country -- may be fueling a sudden spike in infant mortality as women are forced to carry nonviable pregnancies to term.

In 2007, a climate change experiment captured the imagination of 60,000 people all over the planet. World Without

The Biden administration formally halted the Wuhan Institute of Virology’s access to US funding, citing unanswered safety and

By Will Dunham WASHINGTON In the 1991 film "Terminator 2: Judgment Day," a malevolent time-traveling and shape-shifting android

Mobile phones that die while shooting a video. Cars that roast on the inside. A thermometer needle that

New York City Comptroller Brad Lander slammed a decision by BlackRock Inc., its biggest external money manager, to