Coronation Street’s Denise Black has opened up about the harsh comments she’s received from people in the TV industry about her weight.
The actress, who is 67, is best known for her role as Denise Osbourne in the ITV soap, who is Daniel’s (Rob Mallard) mum and an ex of Ken Barlow’s (William Roache).
Away from the cobbles, Denise portrayed the role of Joanie in Emmerdale, and has also starred in Queer as Folk, and Cucumber.
She has an incredible career, but securing new roles hasn’t been easy for the star, largely as a result of facing people in the industry who judged her for her weight, and being ‘too disabled’.
Denise was born with a condition that impacts the muscles in her right arm, ultimately causing her fingers to cross over each other.
Speaking on Kaye Adams’ podcast How to be 60, Denise spoke about how these comments impacted her self esteem, and how she felt when people pointed out things that were deemed ‘wrong’.
‘I’m not going to name the TV companies, but I’ve been told I’m too fat for television, I’m too disabled for television. All this kind of, you’ve got to fit in and you don’t fit.
‘My experience of being a woman was a lack of self-esteem, a lack of certainty that I was right, a desire to please, to look good, to feel very chastened when people pointed out things that were wrong with me.’
She added: ‘I’ve been told several times, by agents and television companies and photographers, “you’ve got a lovely face; it’s a shame about your body”. It lowers your self-esteem. I’m a great one for “love people as they are”.’
Denise believes that her condition got worse as a result of trying to hide it while on screen.
‘I think the reason it’s like this is because for 30 years I hid it out of the camera, under the table’, she explained.
‘It clawed over through lack of use. There’s a regret. I don’t think you get into your 60s without the odd regret.’
Denise recently added another soap to her list of credits, this time appearing in Waterloo Road.
In the episode, which was directed by Angela Griffin, we met Noel McManus’ (Liam Scholes) grandmother Mo (Denise), who was somewhat of a liability and had the school kids renovate her community centre without permission from the council.
Angela has been director on the show for a number of years, stepping behind-the-scenes after several years of playing headteacher Kim Campbell.
Last year, Denise has paid tribute to her character after being told she was killed off, off-screen.
There’s just one catch – she’s still very much alive!
Despite last appearing 8 years ago, there has been no mention of the character’s death, but Denise became convinced that her time on the show was well and truly over after bumping into a fan.
