Louise Redknapp in 'The Truth About Size Zero'

Louise Redknapp knows the truth about size zero. The former member of girl band ‘Eternal’ and wife of football pundit Jamie Redknapp, (not to mention FHM’s Sexiest Woman of the Decade), put herself through a punishing regime in order to reach the hotly debated American size zero (equivalent to a UK size 4).

Her efforts were shown on ITV in March 2007, in ‘The Truth About Size Zero’.

Before she embarked on the month-long programme of extreme dieting and gruelling exercise routines, Louise was a UK size 8. Despite only having to lose two dress sizes from her already tiny frame, she found the measures she had to take to lose the weight had a negative impact on many areas of her life.

The purpose of the documentary was to highlight how damaging and dangerous it can be to become stick thin through radical dieting and exercise.

In an interview with The Sun newspaper, Louise admitted one of the reasons she felt compelled to take part in the show was because her best friend from school almost died from anorexia when they were teenagers.

When filming finished, Louise put weight back on and fortunately did not end up with an eating disorder, which can be one of the consequences of extreme dieting.

The 90 minute long ‘The Truth About Size Zero’ documentary was shown on ITV1 on Wednesday 7th March at 9pm.