Bulimia survivor and reformed party girl go on 10 Years Younger

A woman who still struggled with body issues after overcoming bulimia and a former party girl who started to feel the age gap between her and her younger partner both wowed viewers with their transformations on 10 Years Youngers in 10 Days. 

Speaking on the Channel 5 show last night, Lorna, 50, a British mother-of-two, revealed she still didn’t like the way she looked, three years after winning her battle with bulimia, especially her teeth, which had been eroded by years of making herself sick. 

Meanwhile, at 53, Deborah, said she was beginning to feel self-conscious about her seven-years age gap with her partner Guy, 46, and felt her body didn’t match her face. 

Both were thought to look much older by the general public and were out of their depth about how to change. 

Thanks to the show’s experts, they reconnected with their younger selves and left viewers amazed with their glamourous transformations. 

NHS worker whose body was ravaged by years living with bulimia 

NHS handler Lorna, revealed she began to struggled with bulimia when she was 20. 

‘I just felt very low, very miserable and I tried to make myself feel better just by comfort eating,’ she said. 

‘I became scared that I would actually gain a lot of weight, so after eating a lot I was actually making sick.’

She said the worst part of bulimia was to have to keep it a secret. 

‘I was always aware of finding ways to hide it, playing music in the bathroom, you just try to make sure nobody can smell it on you,’ she said.  ‘And you also feel the guilt of doing it as well.’

Lorna sought help three years ago, and recovered from the eating disorders, however, she said her body bore the constant reminders of what she put her body through. 

‘Although I have overcome bulimia, I have a lot of insecurities about myself,’ she said. 

‘I don’t feel happy with how I look, it has ruined my teeth. 

‘I don’t like to go around smiling, I’ve been told in the past I have a resting b**** face. I look miserable most of the time.’

Her daughter Holly said in the programme:  ‘I can’t remember the last time my mum spent money or treated herself.’

But after becoming a grandmother, Lorna said she felt ready to start a new chapter of her life.  

‘Just changing a few things will make such a difference to how I feel,’ she said. 

At the start of the show, people thought Lorna’s age was 59, which is nine year older than her actual age. 

She told host Cherry Healy that the last year had been hard and the stress had taken its toll on her and her looks. 

‘It’s been really stressful. I had a relationship that fell apart out of the blue,’ she said. 

‘In the middle of covid, I had to find somewhere else to live, and I had a bit of a breakdown.’

However, she said life was on the up again, thanks to the birth of her grandson, who was four weeks old at the time the show was filmed.  

‘It’s just a new start in so many different respects,’ she said. ‘I want to change me, I want to smile more because I feel I’m not able to express how happy I am.’

Lorna’s first appointment was to tackle her teeth, which were damaged after years of bulimia. 

‘I now feels much better about myself, much more in control, but because of my teeth, I can’t get around smiling or laughing as much as I would,’ she said. 

‘Because of the making myself sick, the acid has eaten away at them.

‘I hate my smile I just would like to be able to not be able to think about smiling, just relax and be happy, not having it at the back of my mind all the time.’

She met with Dr Uchenna Okoye, who explained that the main issue with Lorna’s teeth was erosion. 

‘Because of the bulimia, she’s dissolved the enamel of her teeth,’ the professional explained. 

The professional applied veneers and crowns on Lorna’s teeth to restore them, and dentures at the back of the mouth, specially made by her technicians to rebuilt the teeth at the front. 

Lorna was delighted with the result, and teared up as she admired her new pearly whites.  

‘Oh my god. I got teeth,’ she said. ‘This is amazing. This is a massive step into finding a new Lorna. Because I’m already feeling much more confident, I know that I can smile.’

Her next appointment was with celebrity stylist Gemma Sheppard, who helped her dress her curves.

Lorna admitted she had reached a safe space with her clothes and didn’t know how to dress after years of struggling with her body image. 

Gemma used dresses and belts to build shape and showcase Lorna’s figure. 

‘You’ve given me confidence to try other things,’ the mother-of-two told Gemma. 

She said she felt ready to look at items that were ‘a bit more different to what I normally wear, a bit more outgoing, and I can’t wait to experiment a bit more,’ she added. 

She then met with makeup artist Hannah Martin, who showed her how to apply cream blush and gloss to make her skin glow and lips pop. 

She also told Lorna that gold and rust shades of eye-shadow worked best with her blue eyes. 

Lorna said she liked the final result, quipping: ‘I won’t be accused of having a resting b***h face anymore.’

Her last appointment was with celebrity hairstylist John Vial. 

‘I’ve had the same hairstyle, which isn’t really a “style,” for so long now,’ she said. 

‘To have somebody looking at it and tell me what actually can be done, I’m really looking forward to it.

The stylist decided to go for a bold colour to reconnect with the ’20-year-old Lorna,’ who was not afraid to experiment with different cuts, and a more ‘punk’ look.  

When it was time for Lorna to show her reveal, Cherry could not hide her enthusiast, telling her: ‘you’re like a goddess.’

‘This feels like such a huge turning point in your life,’ she added. 

Lorna was beaming after seeing her overall transformation in the mirror.  

‘Oh my god. That’s beautiful, I love that,’ she said, adding the outfit had ‘a bit of sass; about it. 

‘Absolutely love the hair,’ she said, adding she felt like ‘a million dollars.’

‘Now I realise that my looking after myself, and not destroying myself, I’m going to feel so much better for it. 

‘This is a weight off my shoulder, to be honest with you, just amazing. 

After her transformation, the general public put Lorna’s age at 44, which is six years younger than her actual age, and 13 years younger than how she previously looked.  

Former party girl conscious of her wrinkles 

Meanwhile, Deborah revealed she felt her face didn’t match the healthy habits she had adopted in recent years, after partying every weekend when she was younger. 

‘I eat healthy, I get plenty of sleep, I exercise, my body is in very good shape, but what’s frustrating is that my face doesn’t go with my body,’ she said. 

‘When I was younger, I was a bit of a party girl, I was out every weekend, all weekend. That would take a toll on your looks.’ 

Having a younger partner kept her young, but she had started to feel the age gap between her and Guy more in recent years.  

‘Guy is seven years younger than me. When I am out with him I do feel like I look a lot older than him,’ she said. 

‘When I was a bit younger, I feel people didn’t notice the age difference but now they do. Being a little bit older than my partner probably bothers me more than what it does my partner. 

‘As I’m getting older I’m starting to see that more. So if I can rewind a few years that would be amazing. 

But Guy had only kind words to say about Deborah on the show. 

‘Debbie is a warm, loving, vibrant person and one I like to class as my soulmate.

But Deborah found it hard to accept the compliments.  

Jasmine, her daughter, said: ‘me and my mum are very, very close. she’s always been there for me and my boys.

‘If my my mum would put half the energy she put in me and my boys, she would absolutely sparkle.’

Deborah explained she wanted to reconnect with her old self.  

‘I used to really love myself, I used to be full of confidence, I just feel like I want to be me again and be the bubbly, outgoing person that I used to be,’ she said. 

Before her transformation, people thought Deborah looked 66, a 13 years older than her actual age of 53. 

‘I’m quite chocked really, didn’t think I looked that old,’ she told Cherry. ‘I look after myself and I’m quite fit in myself. I just want to be able to look like I look after myself too.’

Deborah said she didn’t like to look in the mirror, because: ‘I just see a wrinkly face, and that doesn’t give me confidence whatsoever. I think the party lifestyle had an effect on my looks.’

Her first appointment was with cosmetic expert Dr Tapan Patel.  

She told him: ‘The wrinkles on my face bothers me the most. I’m quite happy with the appearance of my skin, it’s just the actually lines.

The cosmetic professional set out to inject her higher lines with BoTox, before injecting her lower lip with filler. 

He explained her lip had began to thin out with age, and had curled into her mouth, which aged her.   He also applied dermal filler to her eye area.  

Deborah was so pleased with the results that she started to cry.  

‘I’m really happy, I’m literally over the moon, I didn’t think it would be possible,’ she said through tears. 

‘I never felt that confident looking in the mirror, when I did look in the mirror I didn’t like what I saw, I’m just over the moon with how I look now.’

After this good start, se met with John Vial, to shed off extra years off her face with a brand new haircut. 

Deborah also met with Gemma Sheppard, and admitted she wasn’t sure how to dress for her age.  

‘I really don’t know how to dress for my age. When I was younger I wore everything and anything,’ she said. 

‘Now if I was to go out shopping, I’d be like “oh I’m not sure about that”,’ she said. ‘I’d like to know what really to wear.’

Gemma helped her make sense of fashion by creating a fashion formula that Deborah could reuse. 

For her reveal, Gemma dressed Deborah in a daring leopard suit, with heels.

The biggest change was her hair, which was chopped short by John and dyed blonde. 

Deborah was delighted with the result and said she looked ‘amazing.’ 

‘I love my hair, the makeup, the outfit, I’d never thought it would be this good,’ she said. 

A new street poll put her age at 53, which is her actual age and 13 years younger than how she previously looked. 

‘It all comes together, I can carry on with my life and be confident in the way I look, in my face and my body,’ Deborah said.

Guy and Jasmine were taken with the results of Deborah’s transformation. 

Guy also approved of the new look, saying ‘you look stunning, darling.’ 

‘I thought she looked out of this world,’ he told the camera. 

‘I found this experience mind-blowing. I’ve learned that i do need to spend time on myself,’ Deborah said. ‘I do feel beautiful right now, it’s great, amazing.’

10 Years Younger in 10 Days airs on Thursday at 8pm on Channel 5.