Claudia Winkleman explained why she has never been able to see her own face.
On Elizabeth Day’s podcast, the Traitors host, 51, talked about her failings and how she views herself.
‘I don’t care about what I look like,’ Claudia began, saying she wants to look ‘orange, black eyes, tipex mouth.’
‘I don’t want to suddenly go, I’m throwing on a gloss and a bit of blush, I don’t want to change what I do, I want to get decrepit looking the same,’ she went on.
Claudia continued on the How To Fail Podcast: ‘We didn’t have any mirrors growing up, I had no idea what I looked like.’
Because of her eyesight, she is still unsure about her appearance.
The Strictly Come Dancing presenter went on to say she likes being kept ‘in the dark’ about ‘seeing herself all the time’.
‘Also, I’ve always had terrible eyesight,’ she explained.
‘A lit candle and everything is just a bit fuzzy round the outside.
‘I was born, I think with minus 15, so I’ve never really been able to see my face. It’s all guesswork.’
Claudia went on to add that she’d undergone surgery since then because she was “banging into walls,” and that she now wears lenses and spectacles.
‘Everything is ish, just a vague idea, which is how I like to live.’
She added: ‘I’ve always had terrible eyesight, which is going back to the blurriness of the paintings I like, and the blurriness of how I’d really like life to be, which is no overhead lights – 17th century is where I would have absolutely smashed it.’
This comes after Claudia said that Strictly management had a very strict requirement about her looks before she accepted the job.
‘[BBC Executive] Danny Cohen gave me the job and phoned me up and said, “We’d love you to do it.” I said, “Thank you so much, that is such an honour”.’
Speaking at the Edinburgh TV Festival, Claudia went on: ‘He added “I’m just going to need a phone number from you” and I was like, “Oh yeah, OK, which one?” and he said, “Your hairdresser’s”.
‘I was like, “Bit weird, controller of BBC One”.’
Claudia discovered 48 hours later that the unusual request was due to her fringe.
‘Two days later, James, who does my hair, said, “This guy called Danny phoned up to complain about the length of your fringe”.
‘He [Danny] was like: “You can have this job but it’s just annoying, it’s down to your nose. You want to be on telly but you’re invisible”.’
Claudia, who said that the programme was larger than her, didn’t appear to mind the request.
‘I don’t say this in a faux self-deprecating way. It is a machine. A steam engine. I’m not even a cog,’ she explained.
