Bury soap star Gemma Atkinson shares 'shock and upset' over body confidence

Actress Gemma Atkinson has revealed her struggles with body image, particularly after giving birth, as she encourages a change in perspective. The former Emmerdale star, known for her role as Carly Hope, opened up about her emotional journey through pregnancy and C-sections.

Sharing her experience on her podcast, The Overshare, she recounted the moment that brought her to tears: "When I was pregnant with my daughter, Mia ended up being an emergency C-section, you don't look at your scar for a good few days, they change the dressing and whatever."

"And the first time when I got home, because I was in hospital for a week, I came home I remember peeling off the C-section bandage and standing in the mirror. It was so swollen and so bruised, I physically started crying thinking, 'oh my god this is awful, this big cut on my body'."

Now a mother-of-two, having given birth to her second child Thiago also by C-section, Gemma's outlook has transformed. Despite her initial reaction of 'shock and upset', she expressed a newfound admiration for what her scars represent.

"Now, I've had a second C-section again, not an emergency one but a necessity, because Thiago decided to poo inside me while I was trying to get him out," the soap star from Bury, Greater Manchester, quipped. "I now look at it as that's where my children gained their life. How capable was my body?

"The first time I looked at it, the shock and the upset, I now feel a bit ashamed of, that I viewed it that way when it did such an amazing, wonderful thing."

Gemma was also candid about various other physical changes she experienced, including gaining over three stone, the development of 'loads of cellulite' and numerous stretch marks. Despite feeling self-conscious at