Behind the ‘Circle of Shame’: I worked at Heat magazine in the 00s

Should I Delete That?

Alex Light & Em Clarkson

Society & Culture

4.8 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 23 January 2025

⏱️ 43 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This week, we’ve been examining the role that nurture played in building our relationships with our bodies - and specifically the role played by the tabloid media of the 90s and 00s.

To really understand how that seismic impact the tabloids had on us - we had to speak to someone who knew how they work from the inside - that’s where Isabel comes in...

Isabel is a writer who started her career in era-defining journalism, most notably at Heat magazine during its mid-noughties peak - where she contributed, alongside a huge team of people, to some of the most iconic features of that time… including The Circle of Shame.

Em spoke to Isabel to find out what it was like working at a magazine that focused so heavily on women’s bodies, the effect it had on her - and how she feels about it now looking back on that time.

Follow @Isabel.Mohan on Instagram

Subscribe to Isabel’s substack here: https://keepitupfatty.substack.com/ - where she writes about the major journey she has been on with body image and how she has now made it her mission through writing to encourage more people, especially women, to be more active and confident.

If you would like to get in touch - you can email us on [email protected]

@shouldideletethat

@em_clarkson

@alexlight_ldn

Should I Delete That is produced by Faye Lawrence

Music: Dex Roy

Studio Manager: Dex Roy

Trailers: Sophie Richardson

Video Editor: Celia Gomez

Social Media Manager: Emma-Kirsty Fraser

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Transcript

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0:00.0	This podcast is brought to you by Simprove, the UK's number one gut health supplement, backed by
0:06.1	science and loved by thousands, including me. Anyone who follows me on Instagram will know I've
0:10.9	been taking Simprove for years and credited with improving so much of my physical health. It's
0:15.8	also been a non-negotiable for me during this pregnancy, but also for the years before it too. It really has.
0:22.7	You've struggled to get and keep much down you, but I know that Sim Proof has been super important.
0:28.1	And for good reason, Sim Prove is science-backed, water-based, and is the UK's number one gut
0:33.6	health supplement. Also, I know you just love the brand and I'll never forget when you
0:38.1	worked with them a few years ago and literally wore a dress solely made of toilet roll
0:42.4	strutting down your street in the middle of the day. Oh, and didn't you do something with a
0:47.6	toilet in the middle of the road? Yes, yes, I did. I actually bought a porcelain toilet and sat
0:52.7	on the loo in the middle of the road to raise awareness of gut health,
0:56.1	literally stopping traffic.
0:58.4	Can I just ask, were your trousers up or down around your ankles?
1:02.1	They were down now, as they have to be.
1:04.1	But it's actually so important.
1:06.1	It contains live and active bacteria, and it's science-backed by over 15 years of independent scientific research
1:13.4	at leading UK universities. And it's so easy to take. You just take the shot in the morning
1:18.2	and wait 10 minutes before drinking a cup of tea or before you have breakfast to allow the bacteria
1:23.1	to get to work. If you want to try to improve for yourself, you can and you don't even need to take
1:27.9	your trousers down. We have a discount code for you to use. It's Delete 50 to get 50% of your
1:34.9	first 12-week rolling subscription. Link in the episode description. That's Delete 50. Enjoy.
1:43.5	Welcome back to Shoulda Delete That?
	...

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