Marion Bartoli has been upping her fitness game in recent months in a bid to stay in shape, but fans expressed concerns when the tennis champion recently stepped out with a noticeably slimmer figure. Now, the 31-year-old has revealed that her dramatic weight loss is actually the result of her ongoing struggle with "an internal virus", describing it as "an absolute nightmare".
Marion Bartoli has revealed her weight loss is due to a virus
Marion explained that she started off the year by following a healthier lifestyle. The formerWimbledon champion had been updating fans with sneak peeks at her workouts, sharing her progress on social media.
"Back in February I didn’t know what sort of disease I was suffering from, so for me, it was going back to a healthy lifestyle and enjoying my new life outside of the tennis court," she told Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby exclusively on ITV's This Morning. "So I was going back to my normal shape and was perfectly happy, going to the gym and enjoying my life - yes I was eating healthy food, but nothing drastic or dramatic."
Marion often shares snaps of her workouts with fans
However, with her hectic schedule seeing her travelling across the world, Marion believes she picked up the virus during one of her many plane journeys. The French star then went on to describe living with the condition, which she says is "absolutely horrendous" as her body reacts to every day things.
"Anything. It can be any contact with an electrical thing - I cannot type on my phone without gloves - I can’t wear certain things on my skin, I have a very bad skin reaction, it could be a tissue on my face," she said. "It’s absolutely horrendous. So my life right now is an absolute nightmare, what I’m going through I wouldn’t wish it to absolutely nobody.
"It’s gradually going down… For example, I need to wash myself with mineral water, I can’t even wash myself with tap water. I can’t have any contact with tap water whatsoever, I can’t be on my phone for more than five minutes as my heart starts to pump and my body refuses electric, I can’t wear jewellery."
The tennis champion described her illness as "horrendous"
Although Marion and her doctors are still trying to find out what the virus is, she revealed that her close friend Sir Richard Branson has been on hand to try to help her find a solution, including finding her "the best clinic".
"The doctors say you have an internal virus that we can’t name," she explained. "But Sir Richard Branson and probably the person I call my second father, who I adore so much, has been trying to find the best clinic in the world to treat the problem. I can't wait to be there on Monday."
Facing scrutiny from her fans over her drastically changing figure, Marion explained that she wanted to set the record straight. "I want people to understand that I don't do [this] to myself on purpose," she said. "This is what I'm going through and it's absolutely horrendous".