Nigella Lawson isn't here to be edited: 'Don't airbrush my sticking out stomach'

Francesca Specter
·Yahoo Style UK deputy editor
·2-min read
Nigella Lawson, pictured left, at an event in 2013, and right, earlier this year, has spoken out against airbrushing. [Photo: Getty]y
Nigella Lawson, pictured left, at an event in 2013, and right, earlier this year, has spoken out against airbrushing. [Photo: Getty]y

Nigella Lawson, 58, has waded into the airbrushing debate after complaining about American broadcasters who wanted to edit out her stomach.

The food writer and journalist made her thoughts on airbrushing clear during a Twitter exchange with Jameela Jamil.

Jameela, 32, a presenter, actress and activist who campaigns for body positivity, called for a ban on airbrushing in a recent op-ed for the BBC.

In a tweet addressed to Jameela, Nigella – who has in the past been a critic of clean eating used as a way to mask eating disorders – revealed her own battle to prevent being airbrushed.

Nigella previously spoke about this experience in an interview with food blog The Splendid Table in 2013.

Nigella Lawson, pictured in 2013 during filming of ‘The Taste’. [Photo: Rex]
Nigella Lawson, pictured in 2013 during filming of ‘The Taste’. [Photo: Rex]

The British chef told the publication: “I could see them wincing when they saw my tummy bulging out of my dress. And when I say bulging, I don’t mean huge. I just mean you could see the roundness. It was a tummy.”

“I really didn’t want to become what I’m not. I’m all for taking exercise so that I can eat as much as I can without getting too huge but, nevertheless, I didn’t want to be turned into a plastic creation.

“As human beings, we are flawed, and it would make me more anxious to hide my flaws than to reveal them. So it wasn’t out of some lofty mission to be honest.

Nigella Lawson pictured earlier this year in London. [Photo: Rex]
Nigella Lawson pictured earlier this year in London. [Photo: Rex]

“It would just make me feel like, how can I walk into a room? There’s only so long I can hold my tummy in without breathing. I wouldn’t want to have to pretend to be something I’m not just for my own anxiety levels.”

“That tum is the truth and is come by honestly, as my granny would have said.”

Recently, a personal trainer Photoshopped images of herself to show how the ‘perfect’ body has changed over time.

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