AS I switched on the TV and saw her stepping out of a cab onto Albert Square in her sky high heels and spray on leggings, my jaw hit the floor.
EastEnders icon Letitia Dean, 57 – famed for playing Sharon Watts – looked slimmer than ever. And it led me to a horrifying realisation, one that left me feeling very uncomfortable.
Letitia Dean returned to EastEnders this week looking slimmer than ever[/caption]
The actress – who plays Sharon Watts – has spoken about her weight in the past[/caption]
She was just 15 when she joined the soap and has grown up in the public eye. Pictured here in 1999 age 22[/caption]
Letitia has never looked better than she does now – and we want to know how she did it[/caption]
As a yo-yo dieter myself, I rejoiced. Letitia seems to have proved it is possible to ditch those stubborn pounds.
But turning to social media, I was alarmed to see the barrage of criticism and speculation about just how she achieved her svelte new figure.
It took less that 15 seconds of scrolling before the O word was mentioned.
Yes, Ozempic. We all know that when anyone in the public eye loses weight these days, fat jabs are the first thing that springs to mind.
And – more often than not – they are the miracle drug behind celebrity transformations.
Trolls were quick to start throwing the accusation around, with one keyboard warrior mocking: “Funny how so many celebs are losing weight these days. Ozempic and Mounjaro have nothing to do with this? Really?”
Another commented: “It doesn’t surprise me she’s been on the mounjaro, she’s struggled with her weight for decades. Let her be.”
While another speculated: “At 57 yrs old, I can guarantee she didn’t drop 4 dress sizes by eating skinned chicken and lots of greens. She had help of some sort. The metabolism slows down, and the menopause doesn’t help. She has been injecting a drug to lose that weight. Can guarantee it. She looks better, but she should be truthful.”
Reading them all, I felt extremely miserable – and uneasy. Since when did it become OK for us to discuss women’s bodies in this way?
As a huge EastEnders fan, I can tell you that Letitia – who is incredibly private – has actually been steadily losing weight for years.
It was shortly after the pandemic ended when I first clocked how different she looked playing Sharon – it was around that time that her character started an affair with the hunky, younger Keanu Taylor (Danny Walters) – and she had clearly found a formula that works for her.
As a woman the expectation to look a certain way has reached scary new heights recently thanks to the rise of GLP-1 injections.
I came to the startling realisation that Letitia, like other women, just can’t win – if she’s carrying a few extra pounds, she’s branded ‘fat’, and when she’s in great shape, she’s demonised for being ‘too skinny’.
One person commented: “Better when she was a plumper..” and another moaned: “She looks too thin.”
Why, I ask again, in this day and age, are our bodies still up for debate? Letitia is one of the greatest soap actresses of our time and it’s depressing that her return has been overshadowed by her weight loss.
Letitia underwent boob reduction surgery when she was just a teenager[/caption]
She spent years yo-yo dieting and even released a fitness DVD at one point[/caption]
Pictured here in 2023 – the actress looked incredible on Sharon’s wedding day to Keanu[/caption]
In a very rare interview with her co-stars in EastEnders spin-off Secrets from the Square, Letitia told how she had been targeted for her size, recalling one jibe from a viewer who sniped: “she’s too fat, the other actors complain they can’t fit on the set with her.”
The award winning star, who was just 15 when she joined the BBC soap, has spoken about being deeply insecure about her looks when she was younger – she even underwent breast reduction surgery as a teenager.
Discussing her decision to go under the knife, she explained: “Backache had a lot to do with that decision too. But I was a lot less secure about myself and there was a lot of focus on how I looked.”
This isn’t the first time Letitia has transformed her body either. Back in 2008, she released her own fitness DVD, Letitia Dean’s Lean Routine, and shared the workout that helped her shed two stone.
But like many stars who have pedalled exercise videos over the years, she later found herself putting some of the weight back on.
In 2020 Letitia had a rather different look – but fans noticed a change after Covid[/caption]
This time around, though, the national treasure has taken the slow and steady approach, and is said to have lost an impressive four dress sizes going from 10st 4lbs to 8st 3lbs.
And, as much as I hate myself for this, I am desperate to know how she did i! If she is doing jabs, like 1.5million Brits, then good for her, if it’s down to diet and exercise, I beg you Letitia, don’t gatekeep those svelte secrets!
These days you just have to scroll through Instagram to see that thin in the new ‘in’.
While just a few years ago we were embracing our curves, now I can’t go a day without someone asking me if I have thought about trying the fat jab. I have, but I won’t – I’m too scared and working in the media means I’ve heard far too many horror stories.
So what has she done? Letitia previously said it was down to eating ‘grilled skinless chicken’ and ‘lots of greens’ while ditching junk food, but I’ve been there and done that – and I still don’t look like Sharon Watts.
It was appearing on Strictly way back in 2007 that first gave her the desire to change her eating habits, and it seems she’s really stuck to it.
Like me, Letitia has admitted her worst habit is junk food, but she’s managed to break free.
Sharon is known for her love of very tight leggings – showing off her trim legs[/caption]
Sharon Watts is well known for her relationship with Phil Mitchell[/caption]
But it was her love affair with Keanu that turned her into somewhat of a sex symbol[/caption]
She gushed in an old interview with Closer: “It was incredible. I found I had so much more energy than when I used to eat junk food.
“The main reason I wanted to do something about my figure was that I was so sick of extreme dieting and my weight yo-yoing.
“I just woke up one morning, and I’d had enough. For years and years – as long as I can remember – my weight had yo-yoed up and down. I’d go on fad diets like Atkins or I’d only eat eggs.”
Having been on the soap on and off since the very first episode, she’s certainly learnt to deal with speculation surrounding her appearance and fluctuating weight over the years.
These days she rarely gives interviews, but when she does Letitia is clearly at peace with her appearance and like her character, she now radiates ‘boss b**ch energy’.
She insisted “Occasionally, the attention on my appearance still bothers me – it bothers all women, doesn`t it? – but I have those things in perspective nowadays. My work is part of my life but it`s not everything and, no matter what you do or how you look, you can`t please everybody”.
And that’s never been more true than now…
Her workout DVD was a huge hit – but she struggled with her weight afterwards[/caption]
‘Godzilla’ of fat jabs
Dr Mitra Dutt, a GP from Lloyds Pharmacy Online Doctor, says: “Mounjaro works by activating two hormonal receptors (GIP and GLP-1), which enhance insulin production, improve insulin sensitivity and work to decrease food intake.”
Saxenda, which contains the active ingredient liraglutide, is another weight loss jab that’s been available on the NHS since 2020.
While Mounjaro is hailed as the “King Kong” fat jabs, a new weight loss drug dubbed “Godzilla” looks set to displace it.
Containing the active ingredient retatrutide, slimmers trying the drug lost up to 29 per cent of their weight in less than a year.
By comparison, trial results showed semaglutide, known as Ozempic, could lead to 15 per cent weight loss and tirzepatide, aka Mounjaro, to 23 per cent.
Retatrutide acts on three different receptors in the brain, “turbocharging” calorie burning while dulling hunger pangs.
Existing weight-loss jabs only suppress appetite, whereas the new treatment also speeds up metabolism.
The new drug is still undergoing clinical trials so it’s not yet known if it will be made available on the NHS.
