Fern Britton defends gastric band operation

Fern Britton has hit back at criticism following her revelation that she had a gastric band fitted.

The 50-year-old, who has shed five stone in the past two years, admitted at the weekend that she underwent the operation in 2006. She had previously put her dramatic weight loss down to exercise and healthy eating.

Speaking while hosting ITV1's This Morning with Phillip Schofield, she said: "I did not need to run around telling people. Only five people knew including my husband (Phil Vickery).

"Back then I did not know there would be so much interest. But then all these magazines started publishing all this stuff and a lot was not from me. All these things about diet I had not said, except for exercising more and eating less."

She released a statement about the surgery after her agent informed her that the News Of The World planned to expose it.

The presenter, who is paid £200,000 to star in ads for health food crackers Ryvita, said: "They expected me to say it was preposterous. But I just had it done. It's great and I'm very happy, but don't get it done yourself."

She added: "Next time if I have a facelift or haemorrhoids, I'll ring the Sunday papers and tell them all about it."