Loose Women’s Nadia Sawalha on the best ageing advice she’s ever received
WORDS: ANNA MATHESON. PHOTOS: GETTY, SHUTTERSTOCK, INSTAGRAM@NADIASAWALHA
Nadia
We know her for her strong opinions on Loose Women and her often daring posts in her underwear on Instagram, and if there’s any celebrity who’s going to encourage us to be body positive, it’s Nadia Sawalha. The 58-year-old actor and presenter has a refreshing take on getting older - and it’s all thanks to another famous lady.
The star says that when US talk show host Oprah Winfrey appeared on Loose Women she gave the girls some sage advice. Nadia explains, ‘Someone was saying she couldn’t believe she was going to be 50 and Oprah laid a hand on her and said, “Think about all the people that didn’t make it”.’ And it’s Oprah’s words that continue to resonate now that Nadia is only two years off her 60th.
SAYING NO TO NEGATIVITY
‘I have two young friends, with young children, who have secondary breast cancer. They would do anything to know they’re going to be 60. Reaching 60 is a bloody privilege and thinking like that stops all negativity,’ she says.
While many of her telly colleagues have turned to nips and tucks, Nadia says she’s using all of her willpower not to ‘be tempted to have a neck lift’. ‘A side of me really wants a wrinkled-up, old face where you can see all the smile lines and life. I love those leathery brown faces,’ she says.
The star, who lives in London with her husband, Mark Adderley, 52, and daughters Maddie, 20, and Kiki, 15, was recently diagnosed with ADHD. It came about after her husband, who has the neurodiverse condition, encouraged her to take the test. Nadia’s said that her symptoms include disorganisation, procrastination and laziness, but also the ability to hyperfocus when under pressure.
She explains, ‘I’ll leave everything to the last minute and then I’ll get so passionately into it, I’ll do in an hour the same amount of work that somebody without ADHD might take a week to complete. That’s exhausting.’
Nadia has also said she’s suffered with imposter syndrome and low-self esteem in the past, which she now believes is linked to her ADHD. The presenter admitted that she’s
