Nadia sawalha reveals shocking reason why she didn’t star in gladiator

The mother-of-two has revealed she almost had a part in hit blockbuster Gladitator – but refused to go and meet with director Ridley Scott because of her weight. Speaking about how a lack of

confidence can hold a person back in life, Nadia admitted the surprise fact to fellow Loose Women panellists, Andrea McLean, Kaye Adams and ex-Coronation Street star, Jennie McAlpine. 

"I got a call from a friend and she said she knew a small role that would be perfect for me and that I just had to fly out and meet a director," she explained. "A really

really famous director, it will come back to me, I can't remember now," continued the 52-year-old.  She then revealed her excitement at the thought of the role: "The first

thing I thought was, 'Oh my god, I'm going out there and I've practically got the part this is a dream come true!'" After clarifying that the role would be in

Gladiator, which made a household name of Russell Crowe, Nadia explained that she bailed on the audition last minute.  "I said to myself, 'I can't go' because I thought I

was too fat and I pretended I was shooting this great big series and it meant I couldn't go along to the audition," she said. Her fellow panellists were shocked, with a stunned

Kaye exclaiming: "You could have been in Gladiator!" Nadia trained at the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts in London before appearing in EastEnders as Annie Palmer for two

years.  The Loose Woman recently hit headlines when she wore the same blouse every day on Loose Women.  After a massive backlash on social media, Nadia revealed that it was an experiment to

see if anyone actually paid attention to what the women were wearing.  _LOOSE WOMEN AIRS WEEKDAYS ON ITV AT 12:30PM. _