"We took our cues from Honey" — Jonathan Ross denies daughter’s claims he instigated her "absolutely toxic" diets growing up

English broadcaster and comedian Jonathan Ross denied insinuations that he and his wife, Jane, instigated their daughter Honey's harmful dieting when she was a teenager dealing with body image issues.

In a joint interview with his daughter to The Times on April 17, Jonathan Ross responded to Honey's remarks made in a 2020 interview, where she claimed her parents introduced her to diets that were "absolutely toxic."

"Some of the headlines have hinted that we were the instigators of the diet, but we took our cues from Honey. We loved her dearly and we wanted her to be happy," Jonathan Ross said.

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Jonathan Ross cleared the air about allegations of instigating his daughter's "toxic" teenage dieting

According to The Daily Star, Honey, now 27, appeared on the ITV talk show Loose Women in 2020 to talk about body confidence and body image. During the interview, she said—

"I have parents who were raised in the same society as all of us. They saw me, a teenage girl coming home saying, I hate my body. [My parents] tried to give me solutions to a problem I brought to them, which was to lose weight. They presented me with diets and diets, as we know, don't work and are absolutely toxic."

She claimed that her parents looked at weight loss as a "solution to the problem" of their daughter, who "hated" her body. She also admitted that Instagram helped her gain body confidence, an aspect she always struggled to "have any control over" as a teen.

In the same interview, Honey warned parents about the dangers of fad diets, urging them to "keep that as far away from your children as possible" to foster a healthy relationship with food and their bodies as growing teens.

Four years later, Jonathan Ross and his daughter Honey Kinney sat down for a joint interview with The Times, during which the 63-year-old TV host refuted allegations that he and his wife instigated their daughter's "absolutely toxic" diets when she was a teenager as a result of her body image issues growing up.

"Honey did struggle at school because we found out she was severely dyslexic. She also developed some body issues when she very young and we could see it was making her unhappy."

Jonathan Ross further added that he and his wife, Jane, fully supported Honey when she expressed a desire to try dieting and were even more supportive when she decided to stop.

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Jonathan Ross hails his daughter as a "smart adult" for using her platform to advocate for body positivity

According to Metro, Jonathan Ross expressed pride in his daughter's transformation into a "smart adult" who uses her platform to advocate for body positivity. Honey Kinney Ross, who has over 57K followers on Instagram, often uses her social media to post body-positive content online.

Speaking to The Times, Honey stated that she was "happy with her body," continuing—

"Because at 27, I feel happy with my body. Sure, I still have bad days, but Dad helped me see that I don’t have to listen to all the nastiness."

Calling her father a "wonderful man with a heart of gold," Honey claimed that Jonathan Ross has always helped her see that criticism "doesn't matter" and supported her in every endeavor. The writer and self-love activist said that her parents were the first people she spoke to when she experienced body image issues as a teen.

The father-daughter duo are reportedly incredibly close and, since October 2023, have co-hosted a podcast called Reel Talk where they talk about films and TV series.