Few women embody the Women's Health values quite like radio presenter, mum-of-one and serious fitness fan Gemma Atkinson.
Not only because she doesn't mess around with her workouts, but also because she pursues becoming her strongest healthiest self with a balanced approach.
You get the impression that not much rattles the 35-year-old; that the negative comments from strangers on social media that are seemingly inevitable when you're a woman in the public eye are usually brushed away.
But, as Gemma told WH Editor-in-Chief Claire Sanderson on the latest episode of the Going for Goal podcast, a stranger's comment on a throwback picture of her in Hollyoaks – aged just 15 – really gave her pause.
'For Hollyoaks turning 25 years old, they’ve been re-running some episodes, and they’ve had a week of my episodes,' she tells Claire on the show.
'People have actually DM’d me, a guy DM’d me, and he said "Wow, I never realised at the time, but you were fat in Hollyoaks weren’t you?".'
Yes, really, about a 15-year-old.
'I went back to him and I said, "Well, I was 15, so I was chubbier than what I am now, but please, please don’t let your daughter think that that’s your idea of fat…she will have problems for the rest of her life if that’s the case".'
The Ultimate Body Plan: 75 easy recipes plus workouts for a leaner, fitter you
The Ultimate Body Plan: 75 easy recipes plus workouts for a leaner, fitter you
But it's not so much that the comment affected Gemma's own-self-confidence, more that it made feel concerned for her daughter growing up and being judged as harshly on her own body.
'[It's] one of my biggest fears for Mia growing up – especially in the environment we’re all in now, with the Instagrams and the filters and the quick fix these jabs and pills and stuff,' she tells Claire.
'It terrifies me that she’ll come to me and say: "Mum, I’ve read that if I do this injection it will make me thin".
On the show she also discusses with Claire about how she plans to counteract these pressures and encourage Mia to grow up with robust self-esteem – and a positive attitude towards health and fitness.
'I love the fact that she’s growing up watching me in the gym,' she shares. 'I don’t want her to grow up watching me moaning about what I’m eating or covering up a bit of cellulite or moaning about my weight and stuff.'
Amen to that.
Want to hear Gemma's full interview? Listen to the Going for Goal podcast on your device and subscribe, so you never miss an episode again.
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