'I SPEND MY LIFE ON A DIET'

Being set fire to onstage while singing? It's all in a day's work for Claire Sweeney - but the actor still has her struggles...

- ARIANA LONGSON

Known in acting circles as a triple threat for her ability to sing, dance and act, Claire Sweeney is a true showbiz survivor. Since her big break in the Channel 4 soap Brookside in the 1990s, she's competed on the BBC's Strictly Come Dancing, starred in a string of TV shows and West End musicals as well as a number of touring productions, all while being a mum to her seven-year-old son, Jaxon. Now she is back headlining at Proud Cabaret on London's Embankment doing what she does best - belting out show tunes and entertaining the crowds. But for all her outward display of confidence, Claire, 51, admits that there is something she struggles with her weight.

She says, 'I'm spending my life on a diet. What's happened is, I've turned 50 and the weight loss has simply slowed down. I've spoken to all my friends of the same age who are perimenopausal or menopausal, and I'm saying to my best friend in Majorca, 'Are you still doing all the exercise?' And I'm like, 'So am I but the weight just isn't shifting.'

Claire reveals she had decided to embrace her womanly physique as she's seen her metabolism slow down. 'It's a change that happens in your body when you get to a certain age,' she says. I'm killing myself doing Barry's Boot Camp and Hot Yoga, and I'm not seeing results as I used to. It's frustrating, so I've said I've got to embrace my curves.