Top comedian on life after massive weight loss
Speaking to Brendan O'Connor on RTE Radio 1 this morning (Saturday) the popular comedian broke down in tears when describing her life as an overweight woman, the reactions of the world around her, and the difficulties when people only see you as 'fat' and don't see you for who you are.
Taking the listener back to her childhood she recalled a memory of when she had to attend a doctor after catching her hand in a car door, and the doctor made comments about her weight, as an eight-year-old child. Alison Spittle – Pic: RTE
She says in her experience doctors are the worst for judging people on their weight, citing an experience when she asked a medical professional about the possibility of being prescribed weight loss injections, the doctor replied 'I don't believe in easy outs'.
It's as if doctors want to punish people for being fat by making them work harder to lose weight.
Alison recalled being hospitalised with cellulitis last year and being told while there that she was pre-diabetic and needed to lose weight. The London-born funny woman told how her cellulitis – a skin infection which affects deep layers of tissue, actually turned into septicaemia which left her very unwell and completely bedridden for several months. Alison Spittle – Pic: RTÉ
Admitting she had never tried to lose weight before, but realising this was best medical advice, she was prescribed the weight loss injection Mounjaro and it has changed her life.
'I miss less buses now' she joked.
The title of Alison Spittle's new show is quite daring, entitled 'Fat B***h', Alison says the name of the show is very fitting as she has endured this name calling all her life, but the show sees Alison reflect both on her own experience of life as a bigger woman, and society's unhealthy attitudes to size, all wrapped up in what can be best described as 'a joyful comedy show'
She has since had to modify the name for her shows in Edinburgh as the council there wouldn't allow the title Fat B***h on posters around the city. She has renamed the show 'BIG'. Alison Spittle at Electric Picnic 2018. Copyright Nick O Donnell
Speaking to the Anglo Celt newspaper earlier this year, Alison reflected on her life as a child and said 'If I wasn't fat when I was younger I don't think I'd be a comedian now, because I don't think I'd bother trying to be funny. Trying to be funny is the thing you pick up when you're younger and it's always to deflect from something.'
But what about the attitudes of people to the popularity of weight loss injections like Mounjaro and Ozempic, Spittle finds it difficult to understand why anyone would have a negative reaction to it, and when people say its the easy way out, she retorts 'What? Do you want someone to have a hard time'?
'I explain my instinctive reaction against such drugs would be the fear that perfectly healthy people would take it when they have no need'. Diabetes and Weight loss injection pen Ozempic
She believes the huge popularity and surge in the use of weight loss jabs provides a valuable insight into how society treats 'fat people'.
'If they feel that scared about being fat, it's because they feel that scared about being treated like s**t and we have to then acknowledge that fat people don't get treated that nicely.'
Alison Spittle, much loved and still as funny as ever, takes to the stage at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival from July 29th to August 24th before returning to Ireland for the Big Dublin Fringe September 16th to 20th.
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