Nadia Sawalha says she has to work on body acceptance 'daily'

EXCLUSIVE: ‘I’m not healed’: Nadia Sawalha says she will have to work on body acceptance for the ‘rest of her life’ – and admits her teen daughters find her posts ’embarrassing’

Nadia Sawalha has said that she will have to work on accepting her body for the ‘rest of her life’ after years of thinking ‘too much’ about the way she ‘didn’t look’.  

Talking in a new exclusive interview with MailOnline, the Loose Women star, 56, also admitted that her two daughters – Maddie, 18, and Kiki, 13, find her empowering posts ’embarrassing’ as young people would rather their mothers ‘shut up’.

Speaking candidly about her inspiring social media platform, Nadia revealed that she is campaigning for her followers to call her posts ‘body acceptance’ rather than ‘body confidence’ as she is ‘not healed’ and has to work on herself daily.

Gorgeous: Nadia Sawalha has said that she will have to work on accepting her body for the ‘rest of her life’ after years of thinking ‘too much’ about the way she ‘didn’t look’ (pictured in one of her body acceptance posts in December) 

Nadia, who regularly shares candid updates of herself in swimwear and underwear, admitted that she has to ‘force’ herself to ‘look confident’ in the hope that one day she will finally have body confidence. 

The presenter told MailOnline: ‘All the stuff I do on my Instagram has come about organically, for years I have struggled and wasted years of my life thinking too much about the way I “didn’t look”.

‘I’ve been doing lots towards trying to “fake it till you make it”, to force myself to feel like I look confident so that one day there will be some confidence come out of it. 

‘Actually, my new campaign at the moment is to stop calling it body confidence and body positivity, all these things. I just want body acceptance.’  

‘Embarrassing’: Talking in a new exclusive interview with MailOnline, the Loose Women star, 56, also admitted that her two daughters – Maddie, 18, and Kiki, 13, find her empowering posts ’embarrassing’ (her daughters pictured with her husband and their father Mark Adderley) 

Body acceptance: Speaking candidly about her inspiring social media platform, Nadia revealed that she is campaigning for her followers to call her posts ‘body acceptance’ rather than ‘body confidence’ as she is ‘not healed’ and has to work on herself ‘daily’  

Nadia, who is supporting Network Rail and British Transport Police’s calls for parents to talk to their teenagers about rail safety, admitted that she has to work ‘daily’ at distracting her ‘stinking thinking’.

She continued: ‘I am not healed, I haven’t taken the Holy Water and now I’m fine. This is a daily thing that I have to do every day and say: “Why is that stinking thinking coming up in your brain again? Park it, distract, go and do something useful.”

‘It’s like a scab that you can’t stop picking, that negative thinking and the stinking thinking about yourself. It is ongoing, I will be having this discussion in my own head for the rest of my life, I am sorry to say, but I will.’

Nadia admitted that it is a ‘quieter voice’ compared to when she was younger and that it was her two daughters that inspired her to strive towards her body acceptance campaign. 

Confidence journey: Nadia, who regularly shares candid updates of herself in swimwear and underwear, admitted that she has to ‘force’ herself to ‘look confident’ in the hope that one day she will finally have body confidence 

She continued: ‘It is a quieter voice, it’s not screaming in my head all the time like it was for years. If I hadn’t of had daughters, I wouldn’t be where I am at all with this way of thinking. Not at all. 

‘I couldn’t see it on myself, I could only see what I was doing to my girls with it. That was the realisation, negative speak. So many women say: “Oh God, I hate my arms. Oh I hate my knees.” All this stuff our girls grow up hearing.’

Nadia insisted that it was important to instead think ‘how good a friend, daughter, colleague or partner you are’ as these things are ‘just as important’.

Yet despite being praised regularly by her 381K Instagram followers for her body acceptance posts, the star admitted that her two teenage daughters find it ’embarrassing’. 

Nadia joked that young people would rather their mothers ‘sit down and shut up’ but she doesn’t want to be silenced.

Sad: The presenter told MailOnline: ‘All the stuff I do on my Instagram has come about organically, for years I have struggled and wasted years of my life thinking too much about the way I “didn’t look”.’ 

She said: ‘Actually for a lot of the time, it’s been quite difficult for them. I think it’s embarrassing. Like I’ll post something then very quickly their friends will send it to them and go: “Oh look what your mum’s doing.”

‘I think to be quite honest, most young people want their mums to sit down and shut up because everything they do is embarrassing. But actually, that is part of why I’m on YouTube and Instagram, that is part of it. They were a bit like: “Oh mum!”.’

Nadia noted how dads can ‘be funny and outrageous’ but girls tend to want their mothers to be ‘very quiet’.

She continued: ‘I just thought: “No, I don’t actually want to be.” I feel like a kid in lots of ways, so I have pushed through because at some points I’ve just thought: “Is it too embarrassing for them, me doing my Kim Kardashian and all these things.”‘

Yet Nadia revealed that she actually received praise from her two daughters recently after she was celebrated as an influencer for helping women think positively about their bodies.

Funny: Yet despite being praised regularly by her 381K Instagram followers for her body acceptance posts, the star admitted that her two teenage daughters find it ’embarrassing’ as young people would rather their mothers ‘sit down and shut up’ (her family pictured)  

She said: ‘Honest to God, I was so thrilled about that, more thrilled than anything else I’ve ever done or anything. I came home and told the girls, expecting them to go: “Oh mum, you’re so embarrassing!” but they were so lovely.

‘They were like: “Oh mum, that is so brilliant. I have to say mum, you are really brave.” That is the first time they’ve said that to me.’

Nadia jokingly added: ‘Probably when they’re in their 40s, they’ll go: “Mum, that was really good what you did, it really helped me out!” I’m not going to get any direct thanks for a while, I don’t think.’

As part of her body acceptance campaign, the presenter has been mocking Kim Kardashian’s SKIMS shapewear in her own sketches called ‘skids’.

Talking about the videos, Nadia joked: ‘The thing is, what people don’t know about me, I actually love the Kardashians. I watch them, the shows, everything. But I also see the hilarity of what they do.


Imitation: As part of her body acceptance campaign, the presenter has been mocking Kim Kardashian’s SKIMS shapewear in her own sketches called ‘skids’

‘I get so captivated by those Kim ads for her SKIMS and you do start believing that you’re going to look like Kim!’

Nadia noted that people like Kim are the ‘rarest orchards’ in life and that it is better to be a ‘daffodil’ as you can get ‘huge bunches, they’re cheap, accessible and make everyone smile’.

The star has managed to keep busy over the past year amid the coronavirus crisis with her Loose Women presenting duties and her daily YouTube show with husband Mark Adderley.

Talking about the impact of the three lockdowns, Nadia, who recently had the Oxford-AstraZeneca coronavirus jab, insisted: ‘I don’t need pubs, shops, a holiday abroad, all that I can deal with now. I just need humans in my house again.’

Nadia added that she is desperate to throw her eldest daughter Maddie a 18th party once restrictions ease, as due to her birthday falling on Christmas Day, she was unable to have anyone over or celebrate.

‘Daily’: She continued: ‘I am not healed, I haven’t taken the Holy Waters and now I’m fine. This is a daily thing that I have to do every day and say: “Why is that stinking thinking coming up in your brain again? Park it, distract, go and do something useful.”‘ 

As well as her busy Loose Women duties, the presenter revealed that she is looking to expand her daily YouTube series with husband Mark and that they have plans for documentaries plus radio shows.

She said: ‘The YouTube channel, for us, is a great way to have real control over what we put out. I love working on TV but you do feel to a large degree it is what someone else wants you to do.’

Nadia joked: ‘Who would have thought I would have been a YouTuber at 56-years-old?’ 

The star spoke to MailOnline as part of Network Rail and British Transport Police’s calls for parents to talk to their teenagers about rail safety and the devastating potential impact of trespass to them, their friends and family.

Nadia admitted that she found the campaign and video ‘very moving’ after there has been a 40% increase in youth trespasses on railways since emerging from the last lockdown.

Lifetime: ‘It’s like a scab that you can’t stop picking, that negative thinking and the stinking thinking about yourself. It is ongoing, I will be having this discussion in my own head for the rest of my life, I am sorry to say, but I will.’ 

She said: ‘As a mum of two teenage girls, and we are all keen train travellers in my family, I was so shocked to discover the rise in youth trespass incidents since the easing of the first lockdown. 

‘I think I naively thought this was something that happened more when we were kids and had somehow magically disappeared. 

‘Trespassing might seem like harmless daredevil fun to some children, but of course it most definitely is not! That’s why it’s so important for us as parents, to have the conversation explaining the devastating consequences railway trespassing can have. 

‘I’ve sat down with my girls to make sure they know that trespassing can not only harm them and their loved ones, but also harm those they wouldn’t even think of, like the rail staff who might be left devastated by any incident, even a near miss.’

She added: ‘Let’s all have the conversation guys. It could save lives.’

Nadia admitted that she had never had the conversation with her two daughters but noted how it was a common discussion when growing up in the 70s and 80s.

She added: ‘Funnily enough, when I had this conversation with my girls, after I showed them this film, they were like: “Mum, God, we’re not stupid. Of course we wouldn’t run on railway tracks!”‘

Nadia noted that peer pressure is a ‘powerful thing’ and that by educating your children, it can encourage peer discussion.  

Nadia Sawalha is supporting Network Rail and British Transport Police’s calls for parents to talk to their teenagers about rail safety and the devastating potential impact of trespass to them, their friends and family. 

Find out more and watch the campaign film search You vs Train. 

Support: Nadia Sawalha is supporting Network Rail and British Transport Police’s calls for parents to talk to their teenagers about rail safety and the devastating potential impact of trespass to them, their friends and family

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