Mel B urges women to 'think less about being thin' amid body image pressures

06 December 2023 , 17:55

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Mel B has joined forces with Pour Moi (Image: Jay Mawson for Pour Moi)

Mel B is trying to encourage women to stay fit and healthy and she insisted it's important to "stop putting pressure on ourselves" to be thin.

The 48-year-old Spice Girls star is now an ambassador for lingerie brand Pour Moi's new campaign, Own Your Confidence, and it's something that's close to her heart. Mel has been working hard to stay active recently and she suggested that's one way women can boost their confidence and learn to love themselves unconditionally.

Speaking exclusively to The Mirror, she said: "We just need to relax and stop putting pressure on ourselves. We need to think less about being thin and more about being fit, we need to honour our bodies and appreciate everything they do for us even if it's something as silly as looking at ourselves in the mirror and telling ourselves we are beautiful.

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Mel B is trying to promote body positivity (Jay Mawson for Pour Moi)

"We need to think about the parts of our bodies we like rather than focus on what we don't like and we need to stop worrying about what other people think." Adding words of encouragement to young women facing pressures from society to look a certain way, Mel said: "Please, please, please just be yourself. You are beautiful as you are."

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The singer also opened up about how her body has changed over the years and admitted it's unfair to compare herself now to when the Spice Girls were at the height of their fame. "I'm in my forties compared to my teens and twenties! It's harder staying in shape but I feel so much better when I really push myself to exercise, to eat right and to just feel like I am totally comfortable in my skin," she explained.

Mel added: "I am never going to have the body I had as a teenager but this body has given me three children, it's been through a lot of ups and downs so I’m very grateful to this body." Although she might have changed over the years, that doesn't mean Mel doesn't still like to dress up in some of her old Spice Girls outfits.

She said she's 'so grateful' for her body (Jay Mawson for Pour Moi)

The singer joined forces with her daughter for the new campaign (Jay Mawson for Pour Moi)

"Fashion is constantly changing. But then again my daughter Phoenix is never happier than when she is rummaging around in my Spice Girl wardrobe - which she calls my vintage wardrobe - and I still wear catsuits, leopard pints and everything I wore back then! And I can still get into most of them," she joked.

Mel said it's nice that people "are more open" about different bodysizes nowadays than during the height of her fame in the 90s, but admitted women are "bombarded with so many more images of 'perfect' bodies". She added: "Women's relationships with their bodies are always very complicated."

Mel B has joined forces with her daughter Phoenix Brown and mother Andrea Brown for the latest Pour Moi campaign and she revealed it was actually her idea to get her family involved. She explained: "I love that Pour Moi's philosophy is about feeling fabulous, feeling confident and celebrating women of all shapes, sizes and ages.

Mel B said it was a 'collaborative experience' (Jay Mawson for Pour Moi)

"It's about being real, not being edited and not taking ourselves too seriously. I love that it was a collaborative experience – it was my idea to include my mum and my daughter."

Mel said it's important for women to make sure they're wearing perfectly fitting lingerie as it will make them feel "fabulous, confident, supported and sexy". Partnering with Pour Moi made her realise just how good wearing the right bra can be.

She told us: "I went into this campaign thinking I was a 34D, turns out I'm a 32DD. That proves the point that most women don't really know their correct bra size. When you have one boob that fits, that doesn’t make your boobs spill over for a double bubble or feels too loose or too tight or shows off back fat you do feel different because you look good in them and your clothes look better with the right fitting underwear."

Own Your Confidence with Pour Moi’s lingerie, clothing, nightwear and sportswear. To shop Mel's favourite confidence boosting pieces head to

Scarlett O'Toole