I only started to put pressure on myself, because of my looks, when I joined The Saturdays during the summer of 2007. Being in a girl band can do that to you. It’s what made me restrict my eating and gave me a false sense of control. But since I was still quite young, always working and moving, I didn’t have time to go to the gym. So I relied heavily on the fact that I was dancing all day and always on my feet. This is how I managed to stay fit and healthy.
However, I still haven’t found a way to completely drown out the opinions of others. I wish I could say I have. But it is very difficult, especially since I became a mother of two children. When I had my first son, he was still on The Saturdays. I had always seen myself a certain way in the public eye, and then my body changed very quickly and publicly. I had a lot of fluid retention and obviously people were commenting on it, which made me feel self-conscious as I walked onstage with four other girls. I also got stretch marks. I think once you’ve had kids, there’s pressure to go back and that doesn’t happen for everyone.
Some people go back to looking like they used to, while others have to work for it. Our bodies change and that is completely normal and okay. Before the pandemic, she used to attend a lot of exercise classes. But it has always been quite sporadic due to my work schedule and my children, so it was difficult for me to maintain a routine. I had a local personal trainer and also did a mix of weights and cardio at the gym. Or I would do Pilates and boxing. I’ve never liked to exercise, so I had to put those things in their place to be held accountable. If I had the day off, it would be after I dropped the kids off at school. I always prefer to exercise in the mornings from 9 to 9:30, that’s my dream time. But if I have a photo shoot with an early call, I’m not someone who wakes up at 5 am to work out. My goal is to do five days, but it could be less.
I went from someone who was built for exercise to not having that luxury during lockdown. At first everything was nice and everyone felt like they were on vacation. But I was bored of sitting and needed to get ready. So I posted on Instagram and asked for dance workout recommendations (I thought this would be a good way to get back into exercise) and almost everyone mentioned RWL (Results, Wellness & Lifestyle). I started doing step workouts with the fitness app, which is old school. My mother used to do it with Mr Motivator. I like to dance, especially when you don’t really need to focus on the routine.
When I got back from Gwrych Castle after I’m A Celebrity, we started shooting my own RWL show. It launched in January and is called Results With Frankie: Health & Happiness, featuring a mix of at-home workouts, including boxing, LIIT (low-intensity interval training), dance and weights, healthy recipes, and mindset talks. He was exhausted and hadn’t exercised for a month, so he was pretty nervous about it. I entered the castle thinking that everything would be a mental challenge, but there were also many things that physically affected my body. The most difficult challenge was the Cyclone. We had been there for a couple of weeks, we hadn’t eaten much, we had sat a lot and it was very cold. I didn’t realize how resilient my body was and I’ve learned to trust it more.
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