Why Bradford woman Danielle Broadbent who appeared on Channel 4's Naked Beach wants people to love their bodies

As a TOWIE extra, she enjoyed being part of the background, but her experience on the latter reality show has finally allowed the mother-of-two to put herself front and centre.

Now she delivers motivational talks and workshops about self-love and is busy building her brand, the Danielle Broadbent collection, which offers plus size clothing for women and children.

Miss Broadbent, 37, from Wrose, struggled for years with a lack of confidence in her body after gaining weight following the birth of her second child, Mikey, in 2010, and was also diagnosed with an underactive thyroid.

She said: "I couldn't shift this weight and it really bothered me. Society leads you to believe that being bigger is bad."

"Before this happened," she adds, "I was totally straight forward in thinking there was no other options for me than being a size 12."

A show runner who worked on The Only Way Is Essex, for which Miss Broadbent worked as an extra, gave her a number for people working on Naked Beach.

Miss Broadbent says she would have "run a mile" if she had known that would be the title, but before being flown to Mykonos and stripping down to a bikini on the show last year, she had a course of intense therapy mental health expert Natasha Devon to find out what was bothering her about her body.

Though "she absolutely broke me", said Miss Broadbent, after being flown to Greece the Bradfordian was mentored by plus size model Felicity Hayward - who she now counts among her closest friends - and learned to be happy with herself by spending time with others who faced similar issues and realising that there is a much more diverse range of body types than are represented.

"I felt like I was back to being Danielle again," she said.

But she wanted to spread the message that had allowed her to find peace with herself.

"I thought, I've wasted seven years feeling like this. I need to help other people now," she said.

Miss Broadbent feels that a "massive factor" in her insecurities was dress sizes, and the lack of larger clothes provided by some mainstream fashion outlets.

Her own T-shirt and jumper designs include messages such as 'Beauty & Booty', 'I Got 99 Problems But My Curves Ain't One' and the broader themed 'Loving the Skin I'm In."

She said that "the more and more I've done this kind of work, I've realised that sometimes you can get into a fat person versus skinny debate," an area she wanted to avoid by acknowledging that people of all body types have insecurities.

Her brand is gaining momentum and has attracted customers from as far as Dubai.

Until coronavirus meant social distancing was put in place, she had been speaking at events such as the Festival of Confidence, which took place in London in February.

Although she continues to work as a recruitment consultant, in the future she hopes to host her own body confidence events in West Yorkshire, believing there to be a gap in the market across the North.

She has also been shortlisted for woman's lifestyle club Simply Ladies Inc's Inspirational Woman award and will attend a ceremony at New Dock Hall in Leeds next March.

Asked about the health implications of promoting fuller figures, Miss Broadbent said: "I totally respect that, however I think that the mental health side of things is a much bigger problem and draining the NHS.

"If you're not feeling well, a lot of people turn to food..."

She said that if people want to lose weight, they should do it for themselves and not because they feel pressure to from wider society.

Miss Broadbent, who is also mother to Allecia, 15, thanked her partner Mike for his continued support.