This Morning presenter Alison Hammond has opened up about the “mortifying” encounter with Hollywood actor Matt Damon that led her to get gastric band surgery.

Recalling the moment to Faulous, the popular TV star, 46, explained that she had been interviewing Matt in 2007 about his latest film, The Bourne Ultimatum, when she noticed that her chair felt a “bit tight”.

She told the publication: “My girth had broken the chair while I was interviewing Matt Damon, one of my idols! I was mortfified. I wanted the world to swallow me.

“’Are you ok?’ he asked. He was very nice about it. ‘Let’s get you another chair’.

“I’m a black woman, but I went bright red in the face

“’Don’t worry about it,’ I said, and I ripped the arm off the chair and flung it on the floor. That made him laugh and, instead of bursting into tears, which would have been the natural thing to do, I started laughing as well and we carried on with the interview.”

She said from that moment on she decided that she “didn’t want to be fat anymore” and booked herself in for gastric band surgery later that year.

The surgery didn’t work and two years later she had the band removed as in that time she had only lost one stone and it was making her unwell.

Now, while admitting she has up and down days when it comes to her weight, Alison chooses to embrace her curves instead.