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"Dawn French has hit back at Anne Diamond&amp;#039;s suggestion that she may have had a gastric band. Diamond said in an open letter to French published in the press last month that while the comedian had made an &amp;quot;astonishing transformation&amp;quot; by losing weight, an &amp;quot;obesity surgeon&amp;quot; had told the former TV-am presenter that &amp;quot;the easiest way to guarantee [that] sort of dramatic and consistent weight is to have a gastric band or a gastric bypass&amp;quot;. The comedienne has since insisted that she lost &amp;quot;a lot more&amp;quot; than the six stone Diamond estimated, and put the weight loss down to healthy eating and walking.  Speaking on a Radio 2 French and Saunders special to be aired tomorrow, French sarcastically says: &amp;quot;Thank you, Anne, for putting me right. Aren&amp;#039;t I lucky that I have Anne Diamond telling me how to live?&amp;quot; Jennifer Saunders asks: &amp;quot;Dawn, have you swallowed a gastric band?&amp;quot; French replies: &amp;quot;No, I have not.&amp;quot; The duo then shout: &amp;quot;Shut up, Anne Diamond.&amp;quot; Diamond caused controversy in 2006 on Celebrity Fit Club when it was discovered that she&amp;#039;d had a gastric band.  She defended her decision by explaining that she &amp;quot;carefully researched&amp;quot; the procedure and spoke to others who had undergone similar surgery. French and Saunders&amp;#039; Christmas Day Special will air on Radio 2 at 2pm tomorrow. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/showbiz/news/a357285/dawn-french-denies-gastric-band-claims-shut-up-anne-diamond/>