fern brittonFern Britton has refused to apologise for not admitting to having surgery to aid her weight loss efforts.

The This Morning presenter slimmed from a (UK) size 22 to size 16 after losing 5st. (70lbs) over two years and in a series of recent magazine interviews, suggested this was achieved by just healthy eating and exercise - but at the weekend admitted she had a gastric band inserted to control her intake.

She told viewers yesterday: “Two years ago I had a gastric band and do you know what? I did it for me because I wanted to.

“I didn’t feel that I had the need to ring around and let everyone know. In fact only five people knew, including my husband obviously. I didn’t expect such enormous interest in body image and perception.

“[I didn’t lie,] there are some things a girl likes to keep to herself.”

The gastric band is placed around the top of the stomach, reducing the volume of food the patient can eat and making them feel ‘full’ on a smaller amount of food. It generally encourages better eating habits as it is painful, and potentially dangerous, for the individual to overeat.

She added that “a lot” of the diet and exercise tips attributed to her by magazines were “not actually from my lips”: “Because I’ve very careful for the last two years, I said yes, I eat less and exercise more, which is absolutely true.

“[But] anything else you’ve read that has anything I’ve said about image, diet, bla bla bla, I haven’t said.”

Fern is reportedly paid £200,000 a year as the face of Ryvita crispbreads and despite suggestions that Fern misled the public over the full details of her weight loss, the company’s marketing director told the Mirror that the company had no plans to drop her over “this personal matter”.