The Dalai Lama told a Channel 4 cameraman that he was fat and needed to go on a diet, a broadcaster has said.

Cathy Newman, 49, said the Tibetan holy man made the comment after she interviewed him on Channel 4 News in 2013.

She told the Walking The Dog podcast: “I did meet the Dalai Lama … but at the end of the interview it was very funny because I had this cameraman called Graham – who sadly died not that many years afterwards, it was very sad – but he was a little bit rotund.

“And at the end of the interview the Dalai Lama pointed at him and said, ‘you’re fat, you need to go on a diet’. [Graham] was open-mouthed in astonishment at this rudeness from the Dalai Lama – I thought it was hilarious – so he was giving us diet tips by the end.”

In the interview more than a decade ago, the 14th, and current, Dalai Lama, condemned Buddhist violence against Muslims.

He also admitted that he would be happy if his successor were to be a woman, saying they should take a “more active role” within the Buddhist religion.

Recalling the interview, Ms Newman, who has worked on Channel 4 News since 2006, said she didn’t think she would be particularly good as a Buddhist and that she just couldn’t get to grips with meditation.

She said: “I think I’d be a useless Buddhist: I can’t get meditation at all. That’s such a waste of time. I watch telly, though, (so) I suppose that’s my equivalent of meditation.

“Let’s face it, we are on slightly different wavelengths – me and the Dalai Lama.”