Kelly Brook insists her boyfriend Jeremy Parisi calls her a "balloon" as part of a "cute" nickname.
The 39-year-old model recently claimed her boyfriend called her a "balloon" and sparked concern from her fans that Jeremy was fat-shaming her for the nickname, which seemed to be malicious.
But now, Kelly has clarified that she was "stitched him up" when she made the comment, as the Italian model – whose English is "limited" – actually uses the term as a "cute thing", after she first used it to describe herself.
Speaking Heart Drivetime with JK and Kelly on Tuesday (08.01.19), she said: "It’s been blown out of proportion really, What happened was – I had been living in the countryside for the past few years with Jeremy, my boyfriend and you know we just got in to English life, going to the pub, having a pint of Guinness and nice pies. Over time, I was putting on the pounds and not really noticing, I was just wearing baggier clothes until one day I came in, bear in mind my boyfriend’s French so his English is a little limited. And I said ‘Oh Jeremy I feel like a balloon’ and he went ‘Oh come here you little balloon.’ And so he got the word from me, I don’t even think he knew what a balloon was.
"I did a bit of press recently where I said ‘Oh yeah Jeremy called me a balloon’ so I kind of stitched him up a bit because actually it’s not even his word it’s what I call myself. But he has been calling me his little balloon ever since."
And Kelly now feels bad for mentioning the pet name, as she says her fans having been telling her to "dump him" over his comments, as they believed the term to be rude.
Kelly added: "So it was a really cute thing that’s now turned in to this whole controversy – Everyone’s saying I should dump him, get rid of him, I’m like Oh my god poor Jeremy."
Kelly Brook: My boyfriend calls me a ‘little balloon’ as a pet name
