Loose Women star Katie Piper, who survived an acid attack orchestrated by her evil ex-boyfriend, has opened up about the health challenges she still continues to face, and why she’s never been discharged

Our good health is a privilege, says Katie Piper. And as she knows only too well, it can change at the drop of a hat whether by chance – or evil design.

In 2008, an acid attack orchestrated by an ex-boyfriend left the then 24-year-old model with life-changing injuries and permanent scarring.

It has meant years of operations and pioneering surgery to repair damage to her face, skin and eyesight, which she is still undergoing.

“I’m never discharged,” admits Katie, now 41. “I have to go back for my eyes, nose, and throat.” Yet her stoicism in the face of adversity has brought her peace and success as a presenter, author and charity fundraiser expert.

“I learnt at such a young age the value of looking after your mind, your body, how our health is a privilege and how it can suddenly change,” she says.

At a heartbreakingly young age, Katie learned that health is a ‘privilege’ ( 
Image:
Rowan Griffiths / Daily Mirror)
TRAUMA

The Loose Women presenter recently revealed her decision to get an artificial eye, a prosthetic shell, to fit her left eye, damaged in the attack.

“I’ve always had problems with my eyes, especially the left,” she continues. “That was so damaged on the surface.”
She’s been in the care of a cornea consultant for 16 years, but had “a huge trauma last summer with the retina detaching. I was left with a condition called phthisis bulbi, where the eye cannot be reconnected to the retina. Mine had disconnected and was shrunken. It really marks the end of the road for treatment.

“I knew in the back of my mind it would happen to me one day. I would class myself as a realist and someone who is very practical.”

That practicality and incredible inner strength led to her becoming an advocate for burns and scar survivors, raising awareness, and setting up her charity, the Katie Piper Foundation. And for Katie personally, physical and mental health are paramount.

“I’ve had this unique experience as a 20-something where I know what it is like to be incapacitated, to be ill, to be in hospital for a long time. I always take myself back to that memory of ‘Do all this now, so when you are older, your quality of life is the best it can be’.

“I want to be healthy. I take looking after my body as a job. I want the best from it.”

One of the key factors for her is looking after her gut. She reveals she first became aware of its importance while in hospital as a burns patient.

“I came to know more about gut health in a more unconventional way than most people because I spent a lot of time on gastro wards in my recovery,” she says. “I was having tube feeding and all kinds of gastro problems. About 13 years ago I used the gut supplement Symprove which was really useful for me with my recovery. It was a really important part of my daily routine and I stuck with it a long, long time.

It’s not just a fluffy thing to say but your gut holds the score of everything, trauma, psychological things. And anybody who has had any kind of stay in hospital or been unwell, will know that when you take things like painkillers or opioids, you get really bad constipation. Then after that you get a really upset stomach, so you do have to do something for the stomach lining when it’s been through so much.

“With your gut being linked to everything now from dementia to Parkinson’s, you can see how it is the epicentre of everything. And because I have had specific problems with my eyes, my skin, I know from those specialists they also can be affected by diet, gut and sleep. They are all intrinsically linked.”

The Loose Women presenter recently revealed her decision to get an artificial eye ( 
Image:
Katie Piper Instagram)

She’s started feeling less lethargic after taking Symprove ( 
Image:
Katie Piper Instagram)
FASTING

After having daughters Belle, 10, and Penelope, seven, Katie started taking Symprove again and says she feels less sluggish. “I was in my 30s, feeling lethargic and hungover when you haven’t been drinking – it was all linked to the gut. I rarely get sick now. I don’t get an upset stomach or diarrhoea and I sleep better.”

With the foundations of her gut and sleep working, does she also watch what she eats? “Just before Christmas I started intermittent fasting,” she says. “After the school run when I get to work, I’ll have scrambled eggs or take a box of yoghurt, berries and nuts with me. I’ve found it’s helped me be a bit more energetic in the mornings, to not need as much caffeine. I probably still eat the same amount of food and calories but it’s better spread out for the day.

“I’m not somebody who can cut out all sweets and wine. I try to make good choices, so I can have my glass of wine on the sofa on Friday evenings.”

At home she is conscious – along with husband, builder and carpenter Richie Sutton, 40 – that her daughters eat well. “It’s making sure I’m giving them the right messages at home about nutrition and food. Parenting is that whole thing of not what you are saying but what you do,” she says.

“I don’t want to demonise anything, so we’re not cutting out carbs. We’re trying to make it balanced and have helpful conversations in the house around that. Richie does most of the cooking. Nobody likes my cooking!”

She also runs and does weight training. “I try to make fitness purpose-led, so I do quite a lot of running. I’ll enter races you have to pay for, get sponsorship for my charity.

“You have that accountability and that makes me train. I can’t just say I will exercise four times a week and hope it happens, because it won’t.

“I got weights in lockdown and set up a makeshift gym in the garage. I sometimes go there before everyone’s awake. It’s finding time around family life. A little bit of me time

“Motivation definitely ebbs and flows and sometimes when it starts to ebb away, you can become a bit self-sabotaging and destructive and say, ‘I’ve had a cake or I’ve skipped the gym, I’ll carry on’. That’s when you have to call on discipline.”

When exercising, motivational speaker Katie listens to podcasts or audiobooks. Her own book, Still Beautiful, is out in June. “I’m a multi-tasker. It’s that guilt where I think I’m technically doing research as well as exercising. I’m making good use of the time, which is ridiculous, as you should be allowed to go for a run for 30 minutes and not feel bad. It’s also where creativity ignites.”

She finds her mind is too active to meditate, so she turns to craft in quieter moments. “If I sit still, I think I haven’t done the online shop or I haven’t got the cleaning stuff. I do quite a lot of craft, gem art, it’s a bit like painting by numbers. You should preserve your mental health. Put yourself first, so you can help others afterwards.