'IT FEELS LIKE YOUR BOOBS ARE THE ONLY THING PEOPLE SEE'

In her new documentary, Jackie Adedeji explores what it’s like living with big breasts

- KATIE ARCHER

Body confidence is something that radiates from broadcaster and podcaster Jackie Adedeji, but it’s been a hard won battle from her days as a self-conscious teen.

She’s an empowering advocate for women to be proud of their bodies whatever their shape and size, but in her first TV documentary, Jackie explains why her own self-image wasn’t always so strong.

Jackie now embraces her figure in her social media posts – a far cry from the family photos she cringes over at the beginning of Channel 4’s Untold: My Big Boobs where she talks to her parents about what it felt like to develop large breasts.

She tells her dad, who is a pastor, and her mum, “I was just so embarrassed about my body. I just thought, ‘This is so disgusting, why do I have boobs?’”

Behind the self-love affirmations Jackie shares with her followers, she is no stranger to the problems that having big boobs can bring, including physical discomfort and the realisation that some men will openly stare at bodies of even young girls.

“For women with big boobs, it can sometimes feel like your boobs are the only thing people see about you,” she explains.

The women she meets in her documentary talk about chronic back pain and rashes, as well as feeling self-conscious and the offensive assumptions made about them and their sexuality based purely on their bra size.

While a breast reduction might seem like the answer, Jackie says that many women (including herself as a teen) are turned down for NHS surgery for not meeting the criteria, which includes having a BMI under 27.