Comedian Miranda Hart has revealed she has been battling a secret illness in a new video message to her fans on social media.
In a candid post on Instagram, the actor discussed the “shame” she had felt from gaining weight over the past three years. She explained that the changes to her body had come from an illness, which she did not reveal.
Promoting her new book, I Haven’t Been Entirely Honest With You, Hart accompanied the post with a caption that read: “I have found it incredibly hard not to feel shame from gaining weight over the last three years.
“Not because of striving for an aesthetic ideal but because it doesn’t represent me and who I naturally am. But life happens. Illness happens.”
In the footage, the TV star joked she had “lost all of the midlife weight that was lumped on”, before pointing to the title of her new memoir and whispering: “I haven’t.”
She explained she was proud of the fact she had “dismantled” negative feelings around her weight and added: “Not because I don’t think bigger is beautiful, but because it’s not really me, and I don’t feel comfortable.”
Her followers flocked to the comments to show their support.
“You have achieved all of these amazing things in life because of who you are, not because of what clothes size you are. You have a whole lot of love around you,” wrote one person.
Another added: “Weight gain is horrendously misunderstood and people can be terribly judgemental. Learning to accept yourself is a really good place to start. Looking forward to reading the book!”
“Thanks for being open and honest,” said another. “Very refreshing. It is hard to remember that we are human, especially when we have a chronic illness.”
Last year, Hart opened up about the Twitter abuse she had faced as trolls told her she deserved “cancer” because of her weight gain.
“I naively thought Twitter ‘abuse’ might’ve eased,” she wrote in May last year.
