Mum eased my future fears
Roz worries about having children amid climate change
FORMER model Roz Purcell says her mother helped quell her fears when anxiety about climate change made her indecisive about having children in the future.
The cookbook author said: ‘I obviously read a lot about what’s going on in the world and it does make me quite anxious about having children because having a kid, your main priority in life turns into that child, to protect them.’
However, speaking with her mother about her fears for the future eased her mind slightly. The 29-year-old told RTÉ Radio 1 yesterday: ‘When I was sitting down with my mum [Cecily] and discussing my woes she made the point that, “Roz when we were having you, there was worries, having your sister there was worries, a few years before the Chernobyl disaster happened – there’s always going to be a disaster and a worry in life and it can’t stop you from doing something that you want to do”.’
Roz went on: ‘I’m still undecided about children, maybe it’ll hit me soon but I think it’s just at the moment, that [climate change] would be a concern for me, yeah.’
The former Miss Universe
Ireland also opened up about her battle with anorexia and how her sister’s leukaemia diagnosis made her realise that the body has a function and isn’t just for show.
‘Your body works for every minute that you take for granted and all I thought about was that you had to be skinny and you had to be a certain size. By her going through something so terrible and our whole family going through something so terrible, it shocked me into reality.’
Roz is now launching her new book No Fuss Vegan. And while encouraging a plantbased diet, she acknowledges her Tipperary farming background with her support for pay-protesting farmers.
‘The farming community is such a pillar of rural Ireland,’ she told presenter Brendan O’Connor. ‘They’re obviously not protesting against veganism or less demand in meat, they’re protesting against the prices that the factories are offering them… They deserve a good living.’
Roz added: ‘I do not tell people what to eat. As Irish people we’ve grown up with knowing how to cook meat… so I just wanted to do something different and make a book that champions vegetables.’
‘All I thought was that you had to be skinny’