Former Emmerdale star Pauline Quirke has revealed that she was overweight because she was "greedy," but decided to slim down after she had to ask for a seatbelt extension on a flight to Majorca.
The 53-year-old actress who recently lost eight stone in twelve months, insists that she had no-one to blame for the weight but herself.
In her new autobiography titled Where Have I Gone?, Quirke explained that her slim-down came about because she was "bored" of being big.
In a diary entry from June 2010 she wrote: ''I'm not big-boned or pleasantly plump, I'm just fat! And I got this fat all by myself, because I'm greedy. I eat and drink too much and I exercise too little.''
Weighing in at almost 280lbs, Pauline admits her full-figure not only damaged her confidence but also her health saying: 'I was tired of not being able to find clothes to fit, tired of sunbathing on a hotel balcony on holiday because I was too self-conscious to sit by the pool.
''Because I was overweight, I was unhealthy. I'd had a disc removed in 1991, I had diabetes in 1994 when I was pregnant with my son Charlie and had to have a hip replacement in 2009. Then I had a fall and fractured an ankle that wouldn't heal properly.''
Quirke said that things came to a head when she had to ask for a seatbelt extension whilst taking a flight to Majorca with her husband Steve Sheen. She added: ''On the plane I tugged the seatbelt across my body and felt its metal buckle cutting in. Discreetly as I could, I summoned the petrifyingly slim stewardess. 'Could I have an extension belt, please?' I muttered.
''She made her way towards me, brandishing it aloft. I saw pity in her eyes. And I wanted to die. In truth, nobody else knew what was going on. Nobody cared. But I knew, and that was enough. It was time I sorted myself out.''
