Women’s Hour presenter Dame Jenni Murray said she “doesn’t agree with celebrating fat” and revealed the £10,000 she paid for weight lost surgery is “the best money I’ve ever spent”.

The broadcaster, 70, underwent an operation in 2015 to have three-quarters of her stomach removed.

Dame Jenni Murray
Dame Jenni Murray has opened up on her weight loss (BBC/PA)

Since having the sleeve gastrectomy, Dame Jenni can only eat small portions of food and her weight has dropped from 24 stone to 14-something, she told the Radio Times.

It came after “a lifetime of grappling” with her size, she told the magazine.

Dame Jenni now wants to warn others about the dangers of being overweight, taking aim at those who want to “celebrate being fat”.

She said: “I’m not afraid of the word fat.

“I look at all these people who say ‘let’s celebrate being fat’ and I think, ‘I’d love to be with you, but I know the damage it can do’.”

She also criticised what she terms “white wine culture,” saying: “Women especially treat white wine as a non-alcoholic beverage.

“The whole wine o’clock thing is very bad news.”

Dame Jenni’s new book, Fat Cow, Fat Chance: the Science And Psychology Of Size, was her attempt to understand how she, “a highly intelligent, extremely well-educated woman”, became morbidly obese.

Read the full interview in the Radio Times.