Emmerdale's Claire King reveals why she is never having plastic surgery again
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Actress Claire King has vowed to grow old disgracefully and will never have plastic surgery again.
Five years ago, the former Emmerdale star decided to undergo a mini facelift after work dried up and she felt like she was competing at auditions against other actors who had gone under the knife.
Her confidence was already at rock bottom following the ­breakdown of her marriage to her former Emmerdale co-star Peter Amory – and a sudden lack of work left her confidence in tatters.
But the single-stitch facelift procedure gave her the boost she needed and she soon landed the role of Erica in Coronation Street.
Now with her career flying high again, Claire, 55, says she is finally comfortable in her own skin and doesn’t feel the need for surgery.
Instead she is concentrating on looking after herself and treating herself every so often to non-surgical treatments for a youthful glow without erasing her wrinkles.
(Image: Getty)
“I had invasive surgery. It was temporary and it did the job at the time, but it’s not the thing for me,” she explains.
“I’ve got rheumatoid arthritis so I have a low immune system. I can’t risk it again.”
After years being known as Emmerdale’s uber-glam super-bitch Kim Tate, the fact those roles were no longer open to her as she grew older knocked her confidence.
“I was going to castings and meeting old friends with new faces. I had low confidence, I’d been through a bad time.
Surgery was good for getting me through that transition period.
“Once you get into your 40s you feel a bit lost. There are good parts for a certain few, but it is always the same faces. So I thought am I going from the hotpot in my youth to Driving Miss Daisy? There was no in-between.”
But five years on she is in a new ­relationship and priorities have changed. She prefers a quiet life and also cares for her elderly parents.
“I spend more time in hospitals than I do at parties,” she laughs.
“I’ve got a chap who doesn’t give a damn about the celeb side of things, so it keeps you grounded.”
But that doesn’t mean Claire doesn’t want to look her best.
She has now opted for a revolutionary non-surgical treatment called Innopen.
Used with CALECIM Stem Cell Serum, it is a small pen device which uses tiny micro needles to encourage collagen and elastin production to rejuvenate and repair skin, making it plumper, tighter and softening lines and sun damage.
“Now I look after my skin and body and I try to treat it with a bit more respect,” Claire says.
“The other problem I’ve got is because of the size of my boobs I don’t like wearing polo necks so I’ve got sun damage on my chest. It started looking like a dried-up river bed. So someone suggested this pen ­treatment and it’s fantastic.
“It gets rid of any old scarring you have and tightens everything up a bit.
“It’s not painful because they put an anaesthetic cream on and you don’t really feel anything.”
(Image: ITV)
The treatment leaves the skin red for a few days – like mild sunburn – but once that subsides the results are just what Claire wanted.
“It softens the lines, plumps everything up. As an actress I don’t want to use Botox as it can make you look a bit odd if not administered in the right hands. Then people can’t tell if you are happy or sad,” she says.
“I’m happy growing old ­disgracefully, but I just want to look fresh. I’m helping nature along a bit without going under the knife.
“The older you get the more you realise the things important to you are different to those in your 20s and 30s – like your quality of life.”
Claire had Innopen treatment at the Harley Street Clinic .