Ricki Lake found X Factor Celebrity a hard watch after losing 20lbs since first audition: ‘It’s hard to see myself’

Ricki Lake is about to make her overdue return to the TV limelight tonight on X Factor: Celebrity after performing for Simon Cowell, Nicole Scherzinger and Louis Walsh earlier this summer.

The chat show host icon is among the famous faces swapping careers for a chance of pop stardom with a major record deal, and this isn’t a car crash karaoke competition. This is serious.

Last week, The Chase quizmaster Jenny Ryan floored viewers with her rendition of Somebody to Love while Martin Bashir had the nation in tears when he transformed into a genuine crooner, with a little nudge from his late brother.

For some of the talent it’s a second chance at superstardom, for others it’s a personal Everest. For Ricki, it’s another string to add to her bow but X Factor: Celebrity also came during a transformative chapter her life.

Back in 2017, her husband Christian Evans committed suicide during an extensive battle with Bipolar disorder. She’s since found love again and, in her own words, is ‘taking charge’.

‘For me, after we did the show in July, I lost a lot of weight; I lost like 20 pounds, so I’m feeling a lot better than watching myself on screen there,’ she told press including Metro.co.uk after watching episode one.

‘I was on a very restrictive diet for almost two months. I just really wanted to change my body. I lost my husband two and a half years ago, to mental illness and death by suicide, and for me I was carrying a lot of that grief in physical weight, and I was really ready to shed it, and so I just took the opportunity.

‘I wanted to come back feeling and looking different, and I feel like I accomplished that. It’s like a control thing. The one thing you can control, and it’s empowering for me. And so I just feel a lot better. And so watching tonight, though I love the show, I think it’s hilarious and so well done and I’m so happy to be a part of it, it’s hard for me to see myself.’

in turn, the process has been a therapeutic for one of the original councillors of daytime television.

‘Yeah, for me [it has been], and I did The Masked Singer last year in the States, the first season, and that was very cathartic for me,’ she explained. ‘At this point in my career, I’ve done a lot. I’ve been around I think longer than anyone, [apart from] maybe Martin.

‘I’ve had a 30+ year career in the business, doing lots of different things, from talk shows to acting, not so much singing, but this is like another thing I get to try.’

X Factor: Celebrity continues tomorrow at 8.30pm on ITV.

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