Anita Roddick's secret triple life

Anita, who is more used to life in her mansion in Slindon, near Arundel, spent four days sleeping rough in central London.

It was one of three challenges she rose to as part of a three-part Discovery Channel documentary.

Each week, Anita will be shown going undercover and taking on new personas to explore people's reactions to her.

As well as being homeless, she also had to live as an obese person, wearing a fat suit and fattening make-up.

For another episode, she transformed herself into an elderly person.

Anita, 60, said: "With the homeless one, I lived on the streets of London and spent a night in Canterbury.

"I was pathetic at the beginning. I could not beg properly as I was not hungry enough. But towards the end I was almost talking gibberish with lack of sleep and hunger.

"What was most surprising was the lack of kindness people walking past showed.

"You can see on the film several people telling me to f*** off. One night I was sleeping in a doorway when the camera caught two men purposely urinating right next to where I was sleeping.

"I went into three pubs in the city and asked for a glass of water and some cardboard. Every one of them said no. I could not believe it.

"We filmed empty boxes that had been thrown out by these pubs round the back of their premises but still they would not give them to me.

"It seems the more clothes you wear, as that is what homeless people have to do, the more eccentric you are seen and no one wants to know you.

"You are seen as dangerous. It did not seem to matter that when I opened my mouth I was articulate.

"No one wants to know your story and no one cares. A very common public opinion of homeless people is that they waste money on drinking or taking drugs.

"The truth behind this is drinking warms you up and the drugs take you out of the reality of existing on the streets.

"Being on the streets is all about survival."

Even before making the documentary series Anita, whose husband Gordon was co-founder of The Big Issue, was well aware of the horrors facing the half a million homeless people in England.

But she was surprised by some of the types of homeless people she met during her experience.

She said: "I did not expect to see so many ex-military people who could not cope with life after being in the services.

"In Canterbury I went to a hostel and I was surprised by how many professionals like solicitors and journalists there were who had become homeless.

"I thought how easy it is to fall down when you are weak and things like relationships break up or financial disasters have happened.

"Once you are down, it is a hard climb up again. One solicitor I was talking to had made some wrong decisions and was now homeless.

"I saw so many hungry people and young people who were on the streets because they could not cope with the pressures at home.

"A lot had been victims of sexual or violent abuse. There was one amazing act of kindness after I had brought a breakfast. The Italian owner gave me double the amount."

Anita's experiences on the streets will be shown in the third programme in the series.

The first will look at living life as an obese person.

With the help of the fat suit and make-up Anita was transformed from a size 12 to size 24.

She said: "Being obese was the most challenging. Aside from the aesthetics, it was so incredibly uncomfortable.

"I am a fast talker and fast walker and very spontaneous but I could be neither when I was obese.

"At one place I went to I could not even fit through the turnstiles.

"A very embarrassing thing happened when I was on a train and my chin fell off.

"I had to sit there holding it on with my hand trying to stop the sweat dripping down."

This was very hard for the mother-of-two who says being active is very important to her.

As well as acting as a consultant to The Body Shop, which she set up out of a terraced house in 1976, for three months of the year, she is also writing two new books.

These will be called Revolution In Kindness and Brave Hearts, Rebel Spirits.

Anita is also a devoted campaigner of human rights.

As part of being an obese person, Anita visited a nightclub called The Big Beautiful club in London.

She said: "I found the women I met there so proud of their bodies. There were women at the club who felt so incredibly sexy.

"I hated the clothes I had to wear for the part and realised that a lot of obese women buy clothes over the internet or in America.

"This is how they see themselves but out of all three of the things I did, this was the one where society really ridiculed me for the way I looked.

"I find it hard to understand that 20 per cent of the population in England are seriously overweight and yet doctors do not feel they are trained enough to deal with obesity problems.

"A lot of overweight and obese women I spoke to would like to see the Government put health warnings on fast-food packaging.

"As an obese person, I went to a dating agency where this dinner was arranged.

"I was sitting at a table with a group of people with a plastic surgeon next to me.

"None of the women spoke to me and all the men did and said I was interesting but they would not date me.

"Then I announced who I was and no one would believe me.

"You should have seen their faces. I got out my credit cards to try to convince them who I was.

"Still the plastic surgeon didn't believe me so I lifted up my top and showed him the babygrowers and fake breasts and still he found it hard to take. It was such a funny time."

Anita described her transformation into an elderly person as the most "poignant" experience of the three.

She said: "The stories elderly people tell are incredible. I spent time with Brighton Swimmers and at different community centres.

"The community centres and groups provide a lot of elderly people with a way to escape loneliness.

"There is no sense of community in England anymore so these centres provide communities from inside.

"Also women tend to outlive men by eight or nine years. One of the biggest pieces of advice I was given was to be prepared for the death of my partner. That was a reality check.

"As an older person carrying bags and struggling, no one comes over to see if you are okay. This is sad.

"When an older person dies, a library disappears. This should not be the case.

"When I was made into the elderly person even my mum did not recognise me. It took her a minute to realise."

Anita decided to do the show after being approached by a friend of hers at the Discovery Channel.

She said: "The programmes really look at what life is like from different sides.

"I am an experience junky naturally. For me, experiencing things like this is all about creating insights.

"I wanted to know what it felt like to live and sleep on the streets or what people thought of you when you were so big it was difficult to sit down.

"I wanted to know if people thought big women were sexy or disgusting, I wanted to know whether people cared about the elderly or if they thought about growing old."

Skin Deep will be screened on the Discovery Channel on Monday at 9.35pm.