Viewers blast Loose Women for 'bullying' Christopher Maloney over body dysmorphia

Viewers have blasted Loose Women for bullying today’s guest Christopher Maloney over his body confidence.

The former X Factor contestant appeared on the lunchtime programme to talk about the extensive and expensive cosmetic surgery he’s had as a means of feeling better about himself.

The star, 40, confessed that he’d spend more than £100,000 on surgery because he was so unhappy by how he looked and felt.

Christopher, who appeared on the ninth series of the singing show, said that he struggles to look at himself in the mirror, even now.

‘I had surgery about four weeks ago,’ he said. ‘I had a hair transplant, upper-eyelid surgery, another nose job, teeth done and some Botox.

‘So I had it all in five days, so it was quite drastic.’

And while he said he did feel more confident after all the surgery, online abuse from trolls can immediately bring him back down into a negative mindset.

Despite saying more than once how uncomfortable he was looking at his own reflection, the show’s host, Christine Lampard, decided to ask him if he wanted to look into a full-length mirror.

‘You talk about not feeling comfortable,’ she began. ‘We’ve got a mirror here now – are you able to stand in front of it and tell us what you’re able to see? Because I’m looking at something very, very different clearly. Are you happy to do that?’

There was an awkward silence as the guest coyly agreed to stare at his own face and body in the mirror.

‘It’s interesting that you’re even uncomfortable at that conversation,’ she also said, before taking a sheepish Christopher towards the mirror before he quickly an away from it.

But viewers were less than impressed at the show’s attempts to shame and pressure him into doing something he didn’t want to.

‘Is that it?’ asked Christine, when he raced back to his seat and began to shake.

‘Will you promise that you’ll at least talk to someone better qualified than me?’ she asked after a nervous giggle, after he reiterated how he wasn’t happy about his hair after he began to lose it during a period of post-X Factor stress.

People took to Twitter in their droves to express how badly Christopher was treated and their levels of disappointment and anger, saying that it was in fact amounted to a form of bullying.

Click here for more information on diagnosing and coping with body dysmorphic disorder.

Catch Loose Women weekdays, at 12.30pm, on ITV1.

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