Have I Got News For You host Jo Brand 'treated differently' after losing over 3st in just months
Comedian Jo Brand has previously opened up about being “treated differently” after she lost three stone. During an appearance on Lorraine Kelly and her daughter Rosie’s podcast What If? back in 2022, the Have I Got News For You host opened up about an unusual effect of her weight loss after she lost three and a half stone “really quickly” when she was in her teens.
During the conversation, Jo, 67, was asked to describe what she was like when she was younger. As she opened up about her childhood and teenage years, the TV personality admitted that she found that people would treat her differently depending on what size she was.
“I don't know in this society whether it's worse to be really attractive or really unattractive. Because actually, the difference between them, is walking down the street and having some bloke perving and leering over your chest area or whatever, and saying awful things to you,” she said.
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“Or a bloke just saying awful things to you about how you look. I know this sounds like I'm justifying it, but I would rather be like me and them not be interested because I remember when I was about 19 I lost loads of weight really quickly.”
After revealing that she’d lost more than three stone in a few months, Jo told an anecdote about how a male friend of hers changed his attitude towards her on one night out, simply as a result of the weight loss.
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“His attitude towards me had totally changed - he was a bit sort of slimy and pervy,” she said. “I don't know if I actually consciously thought about that, but I just kind of thought ‘I really don't like this, and I like the relationship we had before.’”
Prior to becoming a comedian, Jo worked as a nurse. However, she left the profession in the eighties when she began to pursue her career in the world of comedy.
“I remember thinking, before I started stand-up I really wanted to do that job because, at the time, the circuit was thriving. I thought, ‘What a job’,” Jo told Virgin Radio earlier this year when reflecting on all things stand-up.
“I was a nurse, and sometimes I worked 13-hour days, but as a comedian, I could work for 20 minutes and then go home or go out to a club or something. What a perfect life.”
She added: “I did comedy and nursing for a couple of years, and that was very stressful, like driving to Sheffield and then back for an early shift and stuff like that. But once I segued into it full-time, I was amazed.”
