Julia Bradbury says she no longer cares about rejection and she has a “duty” to be positive about her looks.
The presenter told Hello! magazine that she is taking “stock” of her life, having just turned 50.
And she wants to set an example to other women as they grow older.
“I have a bit of a duty to women to be proud and positive about the way I look now and wear it as a badge of honour, rather than think: ‘Oh God, my jowls are saggy and my tummy’s a bit wrinkly’. I am the age I am,” she said.
Un-baa-liveable countryside. Loving Devon in the sunshine. Happy #feelgoodfriday (Hareem pants by @CocoBaySwimwear – perfect for a hot day🔥 & perfect for shepherding. 🐑😅)#devon #staycation #rollinghills #countryside #sunnyday #sheep pic.twitter.com/SH2pUC8u5Z
— Julia Bradbury (@JuliaBradbury) July 31, 2020
The former Countryfile presenter said that “as far as ageing is concerned, you look at yourself in the mirror and think: ‘Oh, OK, that’s never going to be the same again’.
“But then I think: ‘I’ve got three amazing children, and maybe this would have started going south if I’d had kids younger.’”
Turning 50 is “a good moment” to “be grateful and think: ‘OK, what do you want from the next 30 or 40 years of your life?’,” she said.
“So I’m thinking: ‘Right, what have I got left? What do I want to achieve and how do I want to do it?’ And then I try to tick them off.”
She added: “I’ve got to that stage where I don’t care about rejection any more because you get so used to it in my business.
“There is stuff that doesn’t work out, and then there’s amazing stuff that does.”
Earlier this year, Bradbury tweeted a picture of herself having a mammogram during lockdown, urging her followers to check out anything they were concerned about with a GP.
She later tweeted she had been diagnosed with microcysts, adding “very slim chance of developing into anything”.
She told the magazine that she regretted leaving it several weeks after finding the lump in her breast to take an action, only doing so when a friend said she was having surgery for breast cancer.
“It jolted me. I thought: ‘You’re an idiot. Why haven’t you done anything about this?’,” Bradbury said.
“It was one of those things where I thought: ‘It won’t be me, I’ll give it some time and let it go away’. It was very remiss of me not to do anything.
“I felt complete and utter relief of course, and a little bit foolish that I’d left it, and it has made me very aware.”
The full interview is in Hello! magazine, out now.