Tina Malone has shared an insight into her weight loss journey and the struggles she still faces despite shedding 12-and-a-half-stone and dropping from a size 32 to a size 6.
The actress, best known for playing Mimi Maguire in Shameless, lost a huge amount of weight after undergoing gastric band surgery back in 2010. Tina has previously said that surgery is not the easy option, and said she still has to work hard to maintain the weight loss.
Back in 2015, Tina underwent further surgeries in a bid to get rid of the excess skin she was left with after losing so much weight. She said it wouldn’t budge “no matter how much I worked out”.
Tina exclusively told BANG Showbiz at the 2025 Best Heroes Awards: “I lost weight – 12-and-a-half stone. And so there is still sometimes I feel that fat girl still. I look in the mirror, and it doesn’t quite feel as good as I guess I should feel.”
The actress said: “I lost weight for me, nobody else. For my health, and to have my daughter [Flame]. At 50 years of age, I gave birth to this beauty.” The Shameless star thinks weight loss jabs should be on the National Health Service (NHS).
She said: “I think they should be on the NHS. I don’t want to get too political because in the long-run, what diabetes, heart disease is going to cost the NHS. With diabetes, with everything else, let’s nip it in the bud, and save those lives.”
Tina added: “And listen, nobody wakes up to be fat, it’s what takes you to that place. People need help. And you know what, we should all be tolerant and kind.”
It has been an emotional month for Tina. She became emotional on Good Morning Britain as she spoke about the death of her husband. Paul Chase, who was also known by his married name of Malone, was an army veteran and loving dad to the couple’s daughter, Flame.
The couple got married in 2010, appearing on Celebrity Four Weddings. They later documented their journey to have a child together, as Tina, who was 50 at the time, underwent IVF in Cyprus and gave birth to daughter Flame in 2013.
Paul suffered from nightmares and panic attacks brought on by his time in the army. His issues with PTSD worsened in 2020 after he was made redundant and Tina was hospitalised due to Covid-19. During his time in the armed forces, Paul served in tours of Iraq, Afghanistan, Falklands, Belize and Northern Ireland.
Paul tragically took his own life on March 13, 2024. Speaking about her husband last year, Tina said Paul was “funny, arty, kind, loving, caring, romantic, and a wonderful father”, but added: “He just wanted to escape life.”
The ex-Brookside star is now advocating for increased support for veterans. In an interview with Susanna Reid and Ed Balls last month, Tina said that there was a “lack of protocol for veterans”.
She said: “One of the soldiers I spoke to in Paul’s regiment, Cheshire’s 22nd regiment, actually said to me ‘the army are incredible at making you a soldier. They just can’t make you into a civilian’, there’s no transition.”