Rachel Hunter praised for helping lingerie tycoon Michelle Mone drop 50kg

Rachel Hunter provided a "life switch" for bra baroness Michelle Mone during a beach shoot for Ultimo lingerie. Photos / Getty Images

Scottish lingerie tycoon Michelle Mone has likened being overweight to self-abuse, but she's revealed that it was the words of Kiwi supermodel Rachel Hunter that provided a "life switch" for her to turn everything around.

The 48-year-old has shared that, at her heaviest, her mood was "so low... I couldn't get any lower". She has since shed 50kg and is now a size 10.

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I just wanted to share with you guys how far I have come… in the final weeks before my wedding I have really stepped up my game to get the body and mindset that I want. Yes it takes time, yes it takes determination, but like anything if you put your mind to it you can get results. This post is not a sales pitch just me being real and completely honest with you guys. I don’t follow anyone else’s diet or regime or have anything to sell, but I just love to inspire people and show that anything is possible. I've created my own 29 step plan and by sticking to it not only did I lose weight but I feel healthier, centred and more in control. And my mind has never been more focussed because I'm feeding it with energy, good food and stuff that works for me. I try to limit my animal proteins and stick to legumes, vegetables and a limited intake of fish. I VERY rarely eat sugar and try to avoid simple carbs and I don’t fry or batter anything. Fruit juice is a sugary no-go but I love making my own fresh juice using organic veg and produce. I have lots of recipes to share with you and am hoping to soon, I still love my food and cooking and have enjoyed learning how to stick to my steps in the kitchen. I love working out and try to exercise for at least an hour a day if I can. I was given the advice to treat your body like a business, and as a successful business woman that was something that I could understand and really focus on and it's really transformed my life, mind and body. I can admit now that I hated the old me, but now I love how I feel and look. At nearly 8 stone down I’m absolutely the proof that if you aim for what you want and go for it, honestly and with absolute determination then you can succeed. My mind has never been so focused and it’s all down to feeding my brain with healthy energy and happiness! I hope this helps to inspire you to be the best version of you too, please make sure you tag me in your before and after pics.

A post shared by Lady (Michelle) Mone (@michellemone) on Feb 28, 2020 at 3:14am PST

In an exclusive interview with the Daily Mail, the underwear entrepreneur said her "life switch" came in 2006 on a beach shoot for her Ultimo range with Kiwi model Rachel Hunter.

"She was the one who said, 'Why don't you start treating your body like a business because you put all your heart and soul into your business but you don't do anything for yourself.'"

While she carried Hunter's words with her, by 2012 she had reached a size 18 to 20.

After divorcing her first husband, Michael, Mone says she also battled with depression.

She said: "I was at my heaviest and had three children running around me and [I was] launching Ultimo around the world. I was getting bigger and bigger. I was abusing myself. I was on antidepressants from the doctor. It was awful."

Mone has also shared that her parents tried to intervene and her father wrote her a letter imploring her to help herself.

"My mum and dad used to be in tears. My dad wrote me heartfelt letters saying, 'Please Michelle, just do it for yourself, I'm begging.'"

And Mone says her mother physically shook her and said: "Enough of this nonsense and feeling sorry for yourself, you'll have more to feel sorry for if you can't put food on the table for your kids so ... make it work."

In the years that followed, Mone dramatically changed her habits and got her health back on track. Now she's keeping her physique by working out in her gym and taking 90-minute walks every day with her fiance, billionaire Doug Barrowman.

She told the Daily Mail she and her husband-to-be also meditate for 15 minutes before bed every night. She added that she is "one trillion per cent" the most confident she has ever felt in her life.

Baroness Mone, dubbed Baroness Bra because of her Ultimo underwear empire founded in 1999, says she only pulled through thanks to the support of her parents who told her to "stop feeling sorry for yourself".

Mone had been due to marry Barrowman in London at the weekend in the Chapel of St Mary Undercroft in Parliament. Instead the couple is in lockdown on the Isle of Man.

They still celebrated the day, however, on a Zoom call with family and friends ahead of the rescheduled date this August.