Entertainment

Fay Ripley says she turned down record contract with Simon Cowell

The actress said she also spent too much time worrying that she was fat in her younger years.
The actress said she also spent too much time worrying that she was fat in her younger years. The actress said she also spent too much time worrying that she was fat in her younger years.

Cold Feet star Fay Ripley has said she once turned down a record contract with Simon Cowell’s record company.

The actress called herself an “idiot” for giving up the opportunity to record an album, and said she would like to have a “sing-along” now.

Ripley, 52, told Radio Times magazine: “They’d seen me play a singer in a thing called I Saw You and wanted me to make an album.

Cold Feet
Cold Feet Fay Ripley, second from the left), and her Cold Feet co-stars when it was rebooted in 2016 (Jonathan Ford/ITV)

“I didn’t want to be like Robson & Jerome and I’m not that good a singer so I said no. But what I wouldn’t do now to have a little sing-along.”

She added: “If I could go back to my younger self I’d say yes to that, and I’d say ‘Stop thinking you’re fat, because when you’re 50 you’ll really know what fat is.’

“I spent a stupid amount of time thinking I was overweight, but now I’d eat my own leg off for that body. What a waste of energy that was.”

Ripley, who left Cold Feet in 2001 after four series to have children and get married, said she would not willingly leave the series again now that it has been rebooted.

She returned in 2016 with co-stars James Nesbitt, Hermione Norris, John Thomson and Robert Bathurst.

Ripley said: “I wouldn’t make that decision now. I wake up at 50 and go, ‘Thank you, thank you for the job and the nice taxi that’s picking me up, and thank you for the birds and green grass!’

“It was a real bonus when we came back in 2016 and my plan is to do this for another ten years.”

Cold Feet airs on Monday January 14 on ITV. Radio Times is available now.