Josie Gibson has revealed she feels ready to open herself up to romance again after rebuilding her confidence.
The 41-year-old This Morning star has undergone £7,000 of liposuction on her arms and calves during the past year as part of her ongoing battle with lipoedema.
Having been single for several years, Josie has largely devoted her time to raising her seven-year-old son, Reggie. Now, however, she is said to be hoping to meet the right partner and still dreams of a bustling family life.
“If I’d met the right man, I probably would have had about 10 [children]. I would love to foster,” she said.
Her renewed confidence has not gone unnoticed, with Josie reportedly receiving a flood of Instagram messages that have left her “blushing”.
A source told Closer: “She’s quite an old-fashioned girl at heart, but she loves a good flirt. She likes a real man’s man — she’s ready to be swept off her feet and wants the butterflies and passion.”
Josie Gibson has said she is finally ready to have a relationship after finding her confidence again
The insider added: “Josie finally feels she looks good in her underwear and has spent a small fortune on matching lingerie — she’s told friends it’s a shame to have it go to waste. She’s loving the changes and feeling like her pin-up best.”
Josie’s time in the spotlight has seen her embroiled in a number of romances, including her Big Brother boyfriend John James Parton, from her 2010 stint in the house, ex-fiancé Luke Sanwo and Reggie’s father Terry.
She then set tongues wagging when she was pictured alongside social media star Sam Wolfenden earlier this year while presenting This Morning at the races together.
Fans had hoped this could be a new romance for the Big Brother star, however it’s now been reported that Sam is very much taken, and is in fact engaged to his childhood sweetheart Grace Richardson.
Josie revealed in March she had 45 per cent of her arm removed in a brachioplasty, which is a surgical procedure that removes excess skin and fat from the upper arm.
Lipoedema is a medical condition causing abnormal, symmetrical buildup of adipose tissue (fat), which typically manifests in the legs, buttocks, hips and arms.
She said: ‘Experts say it’s where your body holds on to fat. You swell up a lot and you can’t really out-train it. If I had been out working all day, my legs would be like a balloon. I was always having to wear compression pants.
‘And if I hadn’t got hold of it now, it would have got worse.’
The This Morning presenter, 41, has had £7,000 worth of liposuction on her arms and calves over the last year amid her lipoedema battle
She added to The Mirror: ‘I hired this hyperbaric oxygen chamber, Oxydise. I rented it for £500 a month. It was pricey, but helped the healing because oxygen renews all the cells. I’d get in it for 90 minutes when I had time.’
Just weeks after her surgery, she showed off the scars from her surgery, which were not noticeable in her latest post.
Josie had previously shared that despite working out, she struggled to shift the ‘lumps and excess weight’ in her body.
The star said she felt ‘held back’ by her condition, but has since thrown herself into working out, as well as a focus on wellness.
She said: ‘I have just bought a treadmill so I try to get my steps in on there, and sometimes I put some circuits together at home.
‘I take collagen supplements and electrolytes. I’ve also been getting lymphatic draining and have been understanding how the lymphatic system works.’
Alongside this, Josie also has NAD+ and glutathione injectables, designed for anti-aging. The wellness side of things helps to promote healing from her operations.
She revealed that this included renting a hyperbaric chamber from a company for three months. This involves breathing in 100 per cent oxygen in a pressurised chamber to increase blood oxygen levels and aid healing.
Josie also explained how she has built her own copper pyramid triangle, which are popular tools for meditation and energy healing.
