Daisy May Cooper trolled over weight loss: 'Why do women have to be fat to be funny?'

Daisy May Cooper has revealed she's been trolled for her weight loss, after deciding to make changes for her physical and emotional health.

The 36-year-old This Country star spoke on Instagram last year about trying the keto diet and shared before and after pictures, before thanking fans for calling her out on the nature of the post and deleting it.

But in a new interview, Cooper has spoken candidly about how her change in appearance has been received as a female comedian.

"I've had some messages like, 'Well, now you've lost the weight you're not funny anymore'," she told Grazia magazine.

"What the f**k? Why do women have to be f**king fat to be funny? That makes me so angry."

Cooper added, "I champion anybody. I think everybody should be happy with their body. But I wasn't."

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It was during lockdown, when Cooper was pregnant with her son Jack, now two, that things hit a low.

"I was at absolute rock bottom," she recalled. "I was just eating all the time, because I felt it was the only thing I could control."

Despite providing the world with the hilarious Instagram videos she was posting during the pandemic (anyone remember her pranking her book publishers?), she felt like she'd lost her identity, was unhappy in her marriage and struggling with motherhood as many do.

Interestingly, she found solace online, which gave the inspiration for the name of her new BBC Show Am I Being Unreasonable?. "I made up a false name and said all this stuff on a Mumsnet forum," she told Grazia.

"And these amazing women, ho had no idea who I was, were saying, 'No, you're not being f**king unreasonable.' That was amazing".

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As well as in the virtual sphere, someone she already knew in real life, that she'd first met at drama school, Selin Hizli, came into her life again at a time when her mental health was at a low, providing her with real love.

"She genuinely loves me regardless of anything," Cooper explained. "And just to have somebody who loves you unconditionally – oh my God.'

Cooper ended up leaving her relationship. "I was feeling very judged," she said on the decision. "But, ultimately, I was with a man, as wonderful as he is, who didn't find This Country funny. It wasn't his sense of humour.

"It's like, how can I possibly be with a man who doesn't find my comedy funny? That's f**king mad! And he deserves better than me because he has things he needs that I can't give him."

Cooper reportedly split from Will Weston in July 2021 after two years of marriage. In addition to Jack, they share daughter Pip, four.

"Will is amazing,” she also told The Times in September. “An incredible, incredible dad. But fundamentally, there wasn’t real love there. I don’t think there ever was, really. It’s weird. And I think he sort of agrees with that too.

"And then lockdown was like shining a spotlight onto it.” In hindsight, she told the publication she thinks they only got married in 2019, “because we just got to that age of, ‘oh f***, should we settle down now?’ That’s what people in their thirties do.”

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Though even after making all these shifts in her life for the better, she's still being criticised for the way she looks, of all things. But she's content.

"I'm so much happier because I'm not seeking validation from anybody now," she explained to Grazia. "Well, other than my kids, but [Pip] called me a stunning bumhole the other day, so I'm not getting it from there," she said in true Cooper style.

"Releasing that need for validation has been like getting out of prison. I feel like I can breathe."

Aside from acting, Cooper wants to now focus on writing, and support new writers, particularly those who are working class. But, she admitted, "I'm still working it out – where I'm at my happiest."

Watch: Daisy May Cooper fans 'will love' Am I Being Unreasonable?