As Gillian McKeith’s daughter I grew up embarrassed because of my mum’s obsession with poo, but now I’m having the last laugh with a Hollywood career on the horizon and a very surprising connection to Harry Styles!

Few people can say their mother is a TV nutritionist, and even fewer can admit to having seen their mother seriously examine human feces before their eyes.

But Gillian McKeith’s regular appearances on the Channel 4 programme You Are What You Eat, where she helped families with notoriously poor diets adopt healthier lifestyles, soon became the norm for her youngest daughter, Afton.

Gillian played the role of a holistic nutritionist on the show and gained a certain notoriety for her habit of testing human stool samples. She believed that bodily disorders could be detected by the smell and consistency of stool.

Speaking to MailOnline, Afton admitted that her mother’s regular TV appearances on Channel 4 brought her unwanted attention during her school years.

“I thought it was normal for my mom to be on TV,” she recalls. “I assumed everyone’s mom was on TV because of my mom, but eventually I realized it wasn’t the norm.”

“Kids at school came up to me and asked if my mother was Gillian McKeith,” Afton continued. “I turned completely red because I was quite shy and didn’t know what to say.”

Luckily, Afton was still young when her mother first became famous, so she came out of it well. The same could not be said for her sister Skylar, who is now a lawyer.

“My sister was older and in high school when it all started, so she got bullied,” Afton explains. “Luckily, not to that extent.”

Still, Afton admits that even she was not exempt from her mother’s meticulous stool tests, despite being advised to eat healthily from an early age.

“She’s not obsessed with my bowel movements because I’m pretty healthy, but she’s definitely checked them a few times,” she said.

“My sister kept a poop schedule and kept my mom updated!”

She added: ‘She raised us on very healthy food and lots of fitness. My favourite form of fitness is dancing! It’s a way of life for us, I don’t know of any other.

‘I love the way we eat. It’s a gift that I have so much knowledge about health thanks to my mother.

‘I ended up studying health and fitness and have 20 qualifications in the field. I am passionate about it because health is the most important aspect of life.’

Although Afton is well versed in the world of nutrition, it is not her calling in life.

Instead, she would rather follow another aspect of her mother’s life and work in the entertainment industry.

Although Gillian was a nutritionist by profession, she quickly made a name for herself as a TV personality, appearing on shows such as The X Factor: Battle of the Stars and I’m a celebrity… Get me out of here!

Afton is also fascinated by fame, but she prefers to work as an established actress rather than participate in reality TV.

Afton – who studied performing arts at the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts – explained: ‘Performing is my passion. I’m an actress. I’ve performed in theatre shows and musicals, on TV and in films.

“I just got back from Los Angeles, where I was in an independent feature film.”

The film, currently titled Nick of Time, is set to be released next year and will star her alongside American actor and TikTok star Nic Suarez.

Still, she would love nothing more than to play the lead role in a costume drama. Her dream job would be a role in the racy Netflix series Bridgerton.

“A show like this would be perfect for me,” she raved. “Or I would love to be in a romantic comedy and work with someone like Hugh Jackman, Jennifer Anniston or Adam Sandler who I met in Los Angeles a few weeks ago.

‘He wished me luck with the movie I was shooting there!’

Adam isn’t the only star Afton has worked with.

She has built a bond with Grammy-winning artist Harry Styles, whom she met when he was just starting his career.

While the sleek-haired hunk may be one of the biggest stars of the moment, it turns out he’s been struck by a surprising person: none other than Afton’s mother Gillian!

Afton recalls the first time the McKeiths encountered Harry backstage at The X Factor: ‘He and Niall Horan were really keen to meet my mum and asked a producer to introduce them to us.

‘Harry was so excited to meet my mum and was the sweetest person to me. Looking back it’s quite funny because now he’s one of the biggest stars in the world and when he met my mum he was literally shaking with excitement and nerves!’

Afton added that despite Harry’s global fame with One Direction, she was still just as humble when she ran into him in a London cafe a few years later.

“His personality hadn’t changed with his newfound fame,” she explained. “He was now the same kind, polite, sweet gentleman he had been before he became famous.”