Sarah Ferguson reveals she looks back on photos from the 1980s and thinks she looked ‘very beautiful’ and slim, despite struggling with her image at the time

Sarah Ferguson has revealed how she thinks she looks ‘very beautiful and slim’ when she looks back at photos from the 1980s – despite having body image issues at the time.

The 64-year-old Duchess of York, who has been open about her struggles with eating disorders in the past, spoke today as she made her debut as a guest on Loose Women.

‘The other day I was looking back at the 80s, when I wore those ridiculous clothes…

‘And when I look back, I actually think you’re very beautiful! And you were quite slim and you look beautiful, and in 1986 the whole nation stopped for my wedding, and you know it was a great dress,” the mother of two said.

“But honestly, from that moment on, I had such… self-loathing. So much so,” she added.

Elsewhere, the Duchess admitted her relationship with her body has evolved, following a breast cancer diagnosis and mastectomy earlier this year.

She revealed that she now considers her breasts a ‘badge of honour’ due to the scars from her surgery and that she is ‘proud’ of them.

She said: ‘I remember Eugenie at her wedding – and she has a scoliosis scar on her back – and she wore a V-neck wedding dress. And I thought, good for you, you bear your scar.’

She then joked that if she walked around showing her scar “with no clothes on, it would make a bit of a headline.”

The Duchess has always been very open about her struggles with body image, which stemmed from her childhood and was propelled by cruel comments.

The novel, titled Demons Land, is part of a 22-book deal the Duchess of York has signed with Australian publisher Serenity Press and will be co-authored by Michelle Worthington.

Last year Sarah told me Subway that she still and that her weight is still a ‘trigger point’, prior to the publication of her first young adult novel.

Sarah, Duchess of York (pregnant with Princess Beatrice) visited Windlesham, Surrey in 1988

The mother-of-two admitted she recently reflected on finding photos of herself in the 1980s ‘very beautiful’ (pictured at the 1988 London premiere of White Mischief)

Sarah has previously opened up about developing problems with eating as a child, turning to food for comfort when her mother left.

In a podcast with Ayurvedic doctor and naturopath Dr Vijay Murthy, she said: ‘I was a binge eater. I was never able to develop bulimia because I just didn’t have the mental state to go that far, but I always wished I could.

‘But that just shows you how dangerous and what place I ended up in. If you wish you could have a mental illness of that level, that’s a very serious step.”

When asked how she ended up in such a state, she replies, “My body and mind were in that place, but I couldn’t really take action to make myself sick.”

The late Princess Diana, Sarah said, was the only person who understood the pressure she and Fergie were under, and the Duchess said she thinks about her old friend all the time.

When she came into the spotlight as the wife of Prince Andrew in the 1980s, comments about her appearance increased, as did her anxiety (pictured in Middlesex Hospital Teenage Cancer Unit, 1990)

Sarah admitted her wedding dress was ‘amazing’ and said she looks back on it now and thinks ‘you are very beautiful’ (pictured with Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, on their wedding day in 1986)

Sarah said she was proud of her daughter Eugenie for showing off the scar from her scoliosis surgery on her back – as she wore a V-neck wedding dress (pictured in 2018)

The late Princess Diana, (left) said Sarah, was the only person who understood the pressure she and Fergie were under, and the Duchess said she thinks about her old friend all the time (pictured together in 1988).

In 2011, Sarah admitted to once having a “diabolical relationship” with her body, saying she was an “emotional eater.”

She told Australian magazine New Idea that even her marriage to Prince Andrew didn’t make up for the years she spent being taunted for being Fat Fergie or the Duchess of Pork.

“If you were called fat and ugly and called names a lot growing up, like I was, you believe it all your life,” she explained.

‘Of course some people don’t realize what they are doing. They liked it, thought it was just a tease. But it meant I never believed I was beautiful. On my wedding day I was a good weight and looked very nice, but I couldn’t see it.

‘I look back and think: ‘How sad’. But you can’t live with regret, because that’s a thief of the present, and we have to stay in the present.”

The former Weight Watchers ambassador attributed her new-found confidence to advice from American talk show queen Oprah Winfrey.

Sarah took part in a reality television series filmed by Oprah’s TV channel called Finding Sarah.

“I’m a lady, so I don’t have to say how much I weigh,” she said.

‘I know I was at my heaviest when I was pregnant with Beatrice, but I have no idea what size I was.

‘But that’s all ancient history. I think Oprah has opened my eyes a lot this past year. I have learned to love myself.’