He’s a male model who turned from an overweight child into a star with one of the most finely tuned physiques in the business.
But for Kris Smith, stripping off for the stage production of The Full Monty – a musical about a troupe of male strippers – brought back some of his body image demons.
The 39-year-old tells BW magazine of his body image issues: ‘They’ve not gone. They’re far from gone, they’re definitely still there.’
‘I remember being really nervous’: Kris Smith reveals he struggled with body image when stripping off for the stage production of The Full Monty and still feels like a ‘fat kid’ after ballooning to 125kg as a child (pictured walking for Myer in 2014)
Changed: The statuesque catwalk star has in the past said that he still feels like ‘that fat kid’ inside after battling weight issues in childhood. Kris is pictured as a child
The father-of-one admits that he used to drink vodka before strutting the catwalk as an underwear model, but the Dutch courage option was banned on The Full Monty.
‘I remember being really nervous doing swimwear on a catwalk and would have one or two vodkas before, then everything was fine,’ he tells the publication.
Without his elixir against nerves, Kris says he ‘had to literally bare all and just be comfortable and confident with it.’
Naked ambition: for Kris Smith, stripping off for the stage production of The Full Monty – a musical about a troupe of male strippers – brought back some of his body image demons
Fighting fit! For The Full Monty, Kris says he, ‘had to literally bare all and just be comfortable and confident with it’
The catwalk star has in the past said that he still feels like ‘that fat kid’ inside after battling weight issues in childhood.
The Myer ambassador has struggled with life-long body demons after playground bullying over his weight led him into a negative spiral of self-loathing, which still plagues him today, New Idea reports.
‘When I walk down the catwalk for Myer in Speedos, I’m still that fat kid,’ says the former rugby player.
Tough: The Myer ambassador has struggled with life-long body demons after playground bullying over his weight led him into a negative spiral of self loathing
Troubled past: The torment started at school when he was just age eight and lead him to a vicious cycle of comfort eating
The torment started at school when he was just age eight and lead him to a vicious cycle of comfort eating, which resulted in him piling on the pounds – he was 125kg at his heaviest.
‘Not a day goes by that I don’t still battle those demons. I’m still very insecure,’ he says despite revealing he now has a body fat of 12-13 per cent.
He concluded: ‘It took me a long time to get over it myself. I still get upset talking about it.’
Daddy: Kris and partner Sarah Boulazeris (pictured left) are expecting their first baby together. Kris has a son, Ethan, 7, with ex-partner Dannii Minogue