With a new gig on Celebrity Apprentice, the reality show runner-up has her sights set on a sexy new figure.
As the preen queen of Big Brother’s 2012 cast, Layla Subritzky, 24, should have relished the chance to doll up for magazine photo shoots after leaving the house. But despite the hair and make-up artists, photographers and stylists buzzing around her, she couldn’t have felt more frumpy.
“I cried because I hated my body and I just felt gross. I freaking hated it – I was the most uncomfortable, awkward person ever,” she says. “I was at a swimwear shoot and I just didn’t want to get my body out. I said, ‘I can’t do it – I can’t physically do it!’” It’s a far cry from the confident British-born beautician who migrated to Australia a year ago.
“I’d never really struggled with my figure,” she says. “That’s never been on my mind, I’ve always been happy and confident with my body.” But in 2001, Layla was diagnosed with a thyroid disorder that caused her weight to fluctuate wildly. “The summer before last I was a size 6. I was ridiculously skinny, you could see all my bones sticking out. I was so sick, my thyroid had gone so overactive.”
After taking medication to stabilise the illness, Layla gradually gained weight. “I’m currently at the fattest I’ve been in years,” she said just before entering the house. Unlike some housemates who spent all their time working out, Layla skipped the treadmill in favour of getting to know people. Little did she know her thyroid began to wreak havoc on her metabolism once more, and the weight soon began creeping on. “By the end I was like, ‘Oh, I am gross,’” she says. “I knew everything was getting tighter and I was wearing baggy clothes because I was really uncomfortable.”
Read more about Layla’s new body in this week’s Woman’s Day on sale Monday February 4, 2013.
