EastEnders legend Natalie Cassidy has blasted the makers of her work out and weight loss DVD saying it was the wrong thing to do.
The soap star says she was offered an eye-watering £100k to lose four stone in as many months, a process she claims made her ill.
Speaking on the Comfort Eating with Grace Dent podcast, Natalie, who was in her early twenties when she was approached about the DVD, said "I was very overweight and they approached me and said listen, we're going to give you £100,000, we're going to get you really fit and you're going to lose four stone.
"I was like happy days, let's go for it. I just thought, that's a lot of money; but it wasn't the right thing to do."
She went on, "It wasn't - you are losing a lot of weight in a three or four-month period, twelve or sixteen weeks, low calories and training every day."
She also said she put back on the four stone weight she lost in just eight weeks, and on a different occasion admitted, "After starving myself for the DVD, I just ate and ate. I devoured 10 packets of crisps in one sitting and I didn’t even feel guilty."
Speaking about her rapid weight loss, Natalie has previously said, "I was on the cusp of having an eating disorder. I’d go out for dinner and then I’d go home and take laxatives as I didn’t want to have the food inside me, I looked too thin – I can say I wasn’t happy then."
Natalie released a second weight loss DVD, The Perfect Ten, in 2013.
At the time, a pal told Closer, “It’s an effort for Nat to stay slim. She has to be 100 per cent focused and, if she’s really hungry, she’ll make bad choices, so she also makes sure she keeps healthy snacks like carrots and houmous or fruit for when she’s out.
"Takeaways are limited to every other week, not every Friday as they used to be.
“She rarely drinks at home and, when she goes out, she just has a couple. She loves wine, but tends to go for vodka these days. She says she’s in the best shape of her life and she wants to stay there.”