The Big Questions: Nadia Sawalha on body confidence, Loose Women and why she ‘wouldn’t be young now for anything’-Alicia Adejobi-Entertainment – Metro

Welcome to Metro.co.uk‘s The Big Questions, where we ask, well, the big questions (and the smaller ones too) and this week, we’re diving deep with Nadia Sawalha.

Nadia is a woman who wears many hats; mother, wife, Loose Women panellist and, frankly, an Instagram hero. 

The TV presenter and actress has entertained us on-screen for the past couple of decades, but she’s moved with the times in recent years and has embraced all social media has to offer, brilliantly giving us a down-to-earth insight into her life behind the camera. 

She’s developed a loyal following thanks to her body confident Instagram posts and ingenious recreations of popular celebrity photos, with everyone from Kim Kardashian to Adele and influencer Sommer Ray getting the Nadia treatment. 

When she’s not tearing her chandeliers apart to make earrings for said Instagram spoofs, Nadia, 57, is putting the world to rights on ITV talk show Loose Women or spending time with her husband Mark Adderley, with the two celebrating their 20th anniversary this year. 

She’s also a dog mum and has teamed up for a new campaign with YuMove centred around her beloved pooches – which she’ll tell us about while looking at her picturesque view of Cornwall… 

Nadia, you’re making us a little jealous of your Cornwall vacay right now, how is it? 

Nadia Sawalha has been keeping us entertained on-screen for over 20 years (Picture: YuMove)

It’s just beautiful, I’m looking at the most beautiful view of the sea but sadly my dogs aren’t with me – it’s weird me talking to you about dogs and they’re not with me… 

Well, glad you brought that up because we saw an interesting photo of you wearing dog dentures and we have to ask – what was that all about? 

It was just to try and get people talking about their dog’s teeth! I have to say in the past, I was a bit oblivious about dog’s teeth and I feel that’s the case with a lot of people – your dog’s being a bit difficult about having their teeth brushed and so you give up and then they start to get bad breath. 

I think one of the things people complain about the most with their dogs is bad breath; I think it’s something like 80% of people’s dogs have got some sort of dental issue. 

These dental sticks from YuMove are fantastic and they deal with the issue. It’s a bit like human teeth, if you don’t deal with the issue it builds up. 

That’s me and lovely dogs – my very difficult dogs who I love very much – my friend always says, “you’ve got the dogs you deserve” because they’re bonkers like me, really high energy! 

Your Instagram content is a real treat. How did you get to a place of self-confidence? 

I think I’m painfully aware of the pressure that we are all under as women. 

I’ve always, in most of my adult life, never really conformed in a way that I’ve been very high maintenance or bought flash clothes or make-up, but I always felt enormous pressure around my looks and around what sort of woman I should or shouldn’t be. 

Do you have a group of friends who look good on Instagram? Can we produce Instagrammable food photos? It’s just on and on and you’re never going to get to the end of how you should improve yourself. 

I have huge health anxiety and spent most of my life hiding my body away and would never dream of wearing a bikini and I just got very sick and tired of it. This has been a long process over many years, it’s been really difficult to get where I am and I’m not body confident, I’m just someone who worked out that really unpleasant voices live in my head rent-free and allowed at any point in a 24-hour day period to have a go at me. 

I am a work-in-progress all the time. 

I always read every single comment because it helps me stay on the right track because very quickly, I could spiral back into being that self-loathing woman that I don’t want my daughters or anyone else’s daughters to be. 

So that’s where it comes from – and I have a real laugh! 

Your Instagram posts recreating popular celebrity photos are iconic. How much work goes into them?

It always starts off with someone I like, then my sister Dina and I talk about what to do. 

I did one of Kim Kardashian and she had enormous earrings – people love to try and work out what I’ve used to recreate it. 

One of my favourite moments was when Dina said, “Blimey look at the size of those earrings”, then she went, “I know!” ran next door because she lives next to me and came back with two mini aubergines. 

We have so much fun doing it and then that comes through on Instagram. Of course the whole time we’re doing it, my husband is filming it for our behind-the-scenes family reality show so we just have so much fun and people end up feeling a bit better about themselves so, what’s not to love? 

You’re quite social media savvy and have two young daughters, what do you make of the pressures young people face on these platforms? 

I wouldn’t be young now for anything. 

This is the worst time for young people and I get really angry with people going, “Well what about the war, etc”. When I look at the way kids have to have their phones with them all the time, no privacy, everyone always knows where they are, what they’re doing. 

They are under enormous pressure and it’s silly little things. 

Nadia is proud mum to daughters Maddie and Kiki (Picture: Getty Images for Primark)

It’s so hard to find something new that somebody hasn’t done. Luckily, one of my daughters wants to draw and the other wants to sing so you’re always going to be doing something completely original, so it’s not just the body issue. 

The whole world is so angst-driven, so anxiety-inducing. It’s not easy for those guys and my heart breaks. 

You can’t have a pint for less than a fiver, can you? We used to all go out for a fiver. It’s unbelievable. 

You’re an OG member of the Loose Women panel, how do you all go about maintaining friendships away from the show when there’s so many of you? 

I’ve been there since the very first show – obviously I went away for a while then came back – it’s like any other job. You have some people who you work with more so they’re work colleagues because you just sometimes might do the show with them, then you have people who you regularly do the show with. 

That’s obviously casting and producers decide whose chemistry works best with who and all of that, so I have great friends that I’ve had for 25 years from Loose Women, and I have colleagues because I don’t often work with them. 

Nadia has been on the Loose Women panel since the show’s inception (Picture: Rex Features)

Then I have new friends because they’re new coming in and I’m working with them bit by bit and getting to know them, just like any other job. 

The thing is because we’re all women, people are all shocked that we get on. I remember when Judi Love first joined, she said to me, ‘Everyone keeps asking me. “What are they like?” I say, “No honestly, they’re great, it’s a really great atmosphere”’. 

We’re professional people. 

Four men on a show would never be asked if they get on, we’d never be asked if they’re alright after they’ve had [a few words]. 

That’s why I’m so glad the audience is coming back because they can see us have a real hot discussion, then it’ll go to the break and we’ll go, “Right, I’m having an egg mayo sandwich, what are you having?” because that’s what we do as professional people. 

This year, you’re celebrating your 20th wedding anniversary with Mark. Does it feel like it’s been that long? 

We can’t believe it’s 20 years and yet I can’t remember time much before Mark. We’ve changed and evolved and grown so much, we’ve worked so hard on our marriage and we have a marriage podcast which is How To Stay Married… So Far, because we are very aware that to be married, to stay married and happy takes work. 

We’ve done that work, we’ve done our marriage guidance and we’re in a really good place – that’s not to say we don’t fight like cat and dog sometimes because we do. That’s our characters, we’re very Scorpios, very fiery, hardworking, driven and all those things so we get fiery and, God, we used to row everyday years ago, now we have a massive blow-up probably every six weeks [laughs] and it’s always better for it afterwards, but that’s the way our marriage works.

It might not work for everybody but for us, that’s the way it works. 

He’s my greatest ally, he’s a great, great friend, he’s absolutely gorgeous. 

Today, I was looking at a post I posted yesterday and I asked everyone, “can you guess why I’m happy?” My followers know I’m obsessed with Cornwall so I was just expecting everyone to say seaside, but they went, “it’s ‘cause you’re with the hunk”. 

He’s absolutely gorgeous, smart and funny, kind and a good dad. 

We’re a complicated couple but we always work through stuff. Interestingly, doing a podcast each week where we have to sit opposite and look into each other’s eyes and talk for 45 minutes, is quite a good thing for a marriage [laughs]. 

Nadia has joined other celebrities to support YuMOVE on launching its new range of Dental Care Sticks and raising awareness of doggy dental health. For more info visit www.yumove.co.uk.

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