Claire Richards shares Steps audition moment that sparked eating disorder battle

Claire Richards has opened up about her eating disorder (Image: GETTY) Claire Richards, who has been part of the British pop group Steps on and off since 1997, has given an insight into the audition that sparked her eating disorder battle. The 45-year-old singer spoke to Geordie Shore star and I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! winner Vicky Pattison on her podcast, Vicky Pattison: The Secret To, about her struggles with body confidence. She told the reality star: ‘The audition for Steps was ’97 and by that time I had cut my hair really short, stupidly, and I was wearing this stripey catsuit which I wore in the video for ‘Last Thing on my Mind’. ‘And I always use to tie a hoodie around my waist because I was really conscious of my bum because I thought I had a massive bum,’ she continued. ‘They sat me down, did my audition and they said, ‘Oh, we really like you. We want you to be in the band, but you’re going to have to lose weight,” Claire revealed. Claire Richards was a part of pop group Steps (Image: GETTY) ‘It set me on a pathway of not really eating for 4-and-a-half years.’ Later on in the podcast, Vicky suggested that women are subjected to a ‘lifetime of conditioning’ when it comes to body image. ‘I think undoing a lifestyle of that negative thought process is really hard,’ she told Claire. Steps formed in the late 90s (Image: GETTY) The singer replied: ‘Yeah, I mean I still haven’t managed to. I think I’m much better than I was. ‘But I don’t think I ever will get rid of it completely because it’s played such a massive part of my life for such a long time. ‘And I think I probably was anorexic,’ she continued. ‘You know, I managed to kind of stop what I was doing to myself but that went from not eating at all, to overeating.’ Claire, who delighted The Masked Singer fans when she was unmasked as ‘Knitting’ earlier this year, was a part of Steps alongside Lee Latchford-Evans, Lisa Scott-Lee, Faye Tozer and Ian “H” Watkins. The group has sold over 22 million records worldwide and has achieved two number-one albums in the UK, as well as 14 consecutive UK top-5 singles. Vicky Pattison: The Secret To is available to listen to on Acast and all major podcast platforms. New episodes are released every Thursday.