Clara Amfo has revealed that she ‘debated having liposuction’ after ‘getting in her own head’ about her body image on Tuesday. 

The presenter, 40, candidly discussed her relationship with her body image as she covered the December edition of UK Women’s Health.  

In the accompanying interview, Clara reflected on how she thought her career ‘would be different’ if she looked a certain way. 

The broadcaster explained how she ‘tries to stop herself’ from constantly thinking about her body in an industry that is ‘obsessed’ with people’s appearances. 

She said: ‘If I had done all these things but I existed in a different body, maybe had a looser hair pattern, or if I was a few shades lighter, I wonder if my career would be different, and I wonder if I would get treated better.’

Clara Amfo has revealed that she ‘debated having liposuction’ after ‘getting in her own head’ about her body image on Tuesday

The presenter, 40, candidly discussed her relationship with her body image as she covered the December edition of UK Women’s Health

‘I’ll be so real with you, I was debating having lipo. I won’t lie, towards the end of last year – because I got in my head, I had the consultation and everything.’ 

Explained what stopped her, she added: ‘I obsessively research things, and I was just looking at all the times when it had gone wrong for people. I think I scared myself out of it, to be honest.’

In the UK, private liposuction surgery can cost between £2,000 and £6,000.The op, which tends to last a few hours, involves removing unwanted body fat by inserting a tube under the skin and sucking out small areas of fat.

After bruising and swelling from the operation has healed, the areas treated visibly shrink. Recovery can take weeks. 

Graduating with a media arts degree in 2006, Clara joined Kiss FM as a marketing intern in 2007, progressed to stand-in presenter. 

She then secured a role as drivetime host, leading to BBC Radio 1 Extra in 2013 and her daytime Radio 1 show in 2015. 

Last year Clara announced she was stepping down (from the show Future Sounds) after nine years. 

Celebrities piled in with messages of support: Claudia Winkleman shared her thoughts with a string of hearts; Stacey Dooley with clapping hands emojis; ‘huge love to you goddess’ wrote Zoe Ball.

In the accompanying interview, Clara reflected on how she thought her career ‘would be different’ if she looked a certain way

The broadcaster explained how she ‘tries to stop herself’ from constantly thinking about her body in an industry that is ‘obsessed’ with people’s appearances

She said: ‘If I had done all these things but I existed in a different body, maybe had a looser hair pattern, or if I was a few shades lighter, I wonder if my career would be different’

What happened – she explained – was years of ‘relentless’ workload and zero holidays, not even a bank holiday, which left her ‘burnt out’, feeling she’d done enough for the Beeb, ‘You know, when your boots are full’, she told The Mail’s You Magazine. 

After begging for last summer off (which the BBC granted her) she spent months debating with herself whether to leave, and by November, still feeling the same, she quit. 

She insists that the move had nothing To do with approaching the age of 40, a traditionally stock-taking milestone. 

‘I’ve never been busier,’ she says. ‘But I’ve also been able to go to my friends’ wedding and just live. That smile that you see, it’s from the contentment of [thinking], “Y’know what, Amfo, you did the right thing”‘ she explained.  

The full interview is available to read in the December issue of Women’s Health or on the WH website. 

The full interview is available to read in the December issue of Women’s Health or on the WH website