Susie Orbach: ‘Body uniformity is out of control – there’s no right way to have labia!’

The psychotherapist on body hatred, what's changed since she wrote Fat Is a Feminist Issue - and the smell of her clients

Susie Orbach's first book, Fat Is a Feminist Issue, a pioneering exploration of women's relationship with eating and body image, became an instant classic when it was published in 1978. Orbach is one of the world's best-known psychotherapists, lecturing internationally, advising organisations ranging from the NHS to the World Bank, and helping patients who have included Diana, Princess of Wales. The daughter of an American teacher and a Labour MP, Orbach grew up in London, where she still lives and works.

What do you remember about writing Fat Is a Feminist Issue?
It came out of youth - I was 29 and I wouldn't know how to write that way any more. I would have written it as a pamphlet but Joe, my then husband, said don't be ridiculous, you need to write it as a book. It took just six months. I remember Penguin turned it down at the time so it went to Paddington Press and they tried to change the title on me.