By
Nick Mcgrath
19:51 EST, 17 March 2014
|
22:28 EST, 17 March 2014
The singer, 58, on refusing to diet, having a nervous breakdown during her teens and how she avoids depression now
‘If I feel down, I’ll see a counsellor or a psychologist,’ said Hazel O’Connor
CAN YOU RUN UP THE STAIRS?
I can, but yoga and karate are my main exercise. I’m a brown belt, but it’s on hold as I’ve damaged the cartilage in my right knee carrying boulders up the mountain I live on in France. We were trying to stop the mountain falling on my house.
GET YOUR FIVE A DAY?
Absolutely, because I’m a vegetarian. I have an apple every morning with cheese. I eat lots of broccoli and carrots.
EVER DIETED?
Dieting is not good for your mental health and you’ll always put the weight back on, so I don’t diet anymore. When I was making the movie Breaking Glass in 1980, I was 8?¾?st — what I weigh now. But it made me look chunky on screen (I’m 5ft 4in). So I lost a stone on the Atkins diet. It’s a bit disgusting that people make money out of others’ weight paranoia.
COPE WELL WITH PAIN?
I bear it well because women in my family all have painful periods. Eventually, I found acupuncture helped.
ANY VICES?
Chocolate, especially Lindt Lindor balls.
HAD ANYTHING REMOVED?
When I lived in Los Angeles in 1990, two painful tumours grew in the back of my leg. I was told they were cancerous and they were removed. It made me reassess my life and I decided to move back to Ireland. Two months later, the hospital called to say the lumps were actually harmless. Then ten years later I developed skin cancer on my leg and was operated on immediately.
‘When I was making the movie Breaking Glass in 1980, I was 8 ¾ st – what I weigh now. But it made me look chunky on screen (I’m 5ft 4in). So I lost a stone on the Atkins diet,’ said Hazel
ANY FAMILY AILMENTS?
On my dad’s side we’ve got rheumatoid arthritis, and on my mum’s cancer. My mum’s mum died of bowel cancer and three years ago my mum died of peritoneal cavity cancer [cancer between the two membranes that line the abdomen] at 82.
POP ANY PILLS?
Because I’m vegetarian, I take vitamin B (which otherwise comes mainly from animal products) and spirulina (a freshwater algae) for protein. I have rheumatoid arthritis, so I’ve also taken glucosamine sulphate for the past 15 years. I avoided hot flushes by taking soya isoflavones for years beforehand.
EVER BEEN DEPRESSED?
I had a bit of a breakdown at 14 after my first relationship ended. I was put on Librium and Valium, but they made me feel dozy. I found fame hard to deal with when Breaking Glass came out, but the pills I was given made me feel sick. I’ve had little bouts a few times since, but the problem with drugs such as Prozac, which I’ve taken, is they make you feel awful. So, now if I feel down, I’ll see a counsellor or a psychologist.
WORST ILLNESS?
Malaria. I was crossing Africa in 1975 and swam in a river. For the next fortnight I was ill with heat stroke and headaches, but didn’t think much of it. A year later in England I started getting flu-like symptoms every couple of days. When I went into Casualty they thought I was a junkie going cold turkey. My weight had dropped from 8?½?st to 6st in weeks. Doctors then diagnosed malaria.
Hazel O’Connor’s new album Here She Comes is out now.
or comment on this article
-
Three-year-old boy makes powerful plea for cupcakes
-
Moment Playboy model is whacked in the butt with golf club
-
Porn star Belle Knox interviewed in her first adult film
-
L’Wren Scott launching her Banana Republic line in 2013
-
Man with 132lb scrotum has it removed. WARNING Graphic…
-
Savannah Guthrie announces she’s married AND pregnant
-
Duke student feels ‘empowered’ by X-rated career
-
Scenes outside designer L’Wren Scott’s NY apartment
-
Released for the first time, footage of 9/11 from space
-
Happy St.Patrick’s day! Green dye put in the Chicago river
-
Deep blue danger – Diver repeatedly fends off shark attack
-
CCTV of pilot Zaharie Shah and co pilot Fariq Ab Hamid
-
Designer L’Wren Scott was ‘embarrassed and millions in debt’…
-
The moment Mick heard L’Wren was dead: Jagger’s face is…
-
Boeing 777 hijackers plunged to 5,000ft and used low…
-
How a gangly Mormon girl called Luann transformed herself…
-
Was Malaysian co-pilot’s last message to base a secret…
-
North Korea is as bad as the Nazis, says UN report – but…
-
Picture Exclusive: The elite Scientology recruitment school…
-
Duke student porn star reveals she has watched adult films…
-
‘I was a paid hypocrite’: Bearded former Two and a Half Men…
-
Amazing video of man singing Let It Go from Frozen as 21…
-
New York hotel heir found dead at 28 of suspected drug…
-
Today show host Savannah Guthrie, 42, announces that not…
Comments (0)
what you think
No comments have so far been submitted. Why not be the first to send us your thoughts,
or debate this issue live on our message boards.
Find out now