James Argent says surgery to remove excess skin improved love life with girlfriend who is 16 years his junior

James Argent has revealed that having surgery to remove excess skin around his stomach after shedding 13-stone improved his love life.

The former TOWIE star, 35, from London, began to struggle with his self esteem following gastric sleeve surgery in 2021 that left him with excess skin as he shrunk from 27 to 14 stone.

He has admitted to trying to disguise the loose skin by wearing triple XL clothing that was pulled up to his belly button, before opting to have a tummy tuck to complete his transformation.

Arg, who has battled drug and alcohol abuse in the past, explained to Mail Online how the surgery has improved his love life with his 18-year-old girlfriend Stella Turian.

Arg said: “I am confident in the bedroom now… regardless of whether it’s romantically or by a beach or in clothes, across the board I am more confident now in all of those areas.

“Whether you’re a man or woman or have a dream body from the outside, everyone has certain parts of their body they wish they could improve, or they don’t like no matter who you are.

“I am body confident now. Don’t get me wrong I still want to improve and get into the gym and tone up more, but I’ll absolutely be confident when summer rolls around.”

Arg explained that he felt self conscious despite hitting his target weight after losing 13 stone, as he knew diet and exercise wouldn’t change the appearance of his excess skin.

The reality TV star said he doesn’t plan to have any more surgery and he has had to work “really hard” to improve himself.

He added that Stella, who lives in her native Italy, is “proud” of everything that he has achieved. The couple have been in a long-distance relationship for over eight months, having first met at a wedding in Mykonos last year.

Stella, who starred in the film ‘Infiniti’, which screened at last year’s Venice Film Festival, is Arg’s first public girlfriend since his split from former TOWIE co-star Gemma Collins.

Peter Andre has previously defended Arg and Stella’s age-gap, having a 16-year age-gap with his own wife Emily.

Speaking in his column for New! Magazine, Peter said: “Age is a different thing to different people.”

He continued: “There has been a lot of talk about the fact there is a 16-year age gap between them as Arg is 34 and Stella is 18, This is actually the same gap as me and Emily.

“I can’t comment on anyone else’s age differences, but I know at the start of our relationship a lot was said, but now I’m in my 40s and Emily is in her 30s no one ever says anything.”