‘My husband's finding being sober HARDER THAN EVER'

Nadia Sawalha opens up to Woman’s Own about isolating with her family and gives her top tips for homeschooling…

- HAYLEY MINN

If there was anyone who was well prepared for lockdown, it’s Loose Women regular Nadia Sawalha. She and her producer husband Mark Adderley have been homeschooling their daughters Maddie, 17, and Kiki, 12, for almost five years now, and have regular, open conversations about their mental health as a family, both in private and on their YouTube channel, as well as on Nadia’s podcast Confessions of a Modern Parent.

But, during a phone chat with Woman’s Own, Nadia, 55, tells us that even she has been struggling with isolation – and Mark, who has been sober for 17 years, is finding it harder than ever to abstain from alcohol.

With Loose Women originally taken off air due to the pandemic, Nadia tells us why she and the girls fought to get it back on TV…

Hi, Nadia! How are you coping with isolation?

I’m OK. I feel very lucky because everybody is well, my parents live right next door to me, and even though I can’t be with them, I can talk to them over the garden fence. In the first week, it was truly awful and I was spinning out of control. I got hold of myself, banned myself from watching the news, got into exercise, and have started going live on YouTube and Instagram with the family a lot, which really helped.