AceShowbiz - Overweight singer Beth Ditto struggles to accept criticism she is "unhealthy" due to her size - because she knows thin women who turn to cocaine to maintain their weight. The Gossip star admits she finds it "tiring" defending her shapely figure, which has often been a target for critics, who have branded her a bad role model.

Ditto insists she eats a balanced diet and hates the notion that skinny women are healthier than her - as she's certain many use drugs and cigarettes to suppress their appetite. She tells TV presenter Fearne Cotton, "I'm not an unhealthy person and I feel like one of the most tiring parts of being fat and being proud of it is... you do a lot of proving yourself all the time."

"It's really interesting to me that people will look at a thin person and go, 'That's a healthy person'. I want to go, 'Come open my refrigerator and look and then let's talk about what you think is so bad'. To be thin and to stay really thin, sometimes... some people literally do coke all the time. Some people smoke cigarettes instead of eating. That's crazy. But that's 'okay' because you look healthier."