The woman who inspires me nadia sawalha and her sister dina’s unbreakable bond

From crisis calls to shared passions, tV presenter Nadia sawalha, and her sister, Dina, tell Nathalie Whittle about their unbreakable bond

nadia says... nadia, 53, lives in London with her husband Mark Adderley and their two daughters, Maddie, 15, and Kiki-Bee, ten.

Dina and I were inseparable as kids. she was painfully shy whereas i was loud and a bit of a show-off, but it meant we forged this incredibly tight bond. “you’ll be all right, just hold my hand,” i’d tell her when Mum and Dad [the actor Nadim sawalha] threw these big family parties at our house. We made up our own language and shared everything – friends, secrets, clothes. then when our sister, Julia [the actress], who’s four years younger than me, came along, she was an irritation to us, constantly crying and getting in the way of our games. We’ve since apologised to her for our behaviour back then!

As we got older, Dina became the “cool” older sister I wanted to show off to everyone. i went to stage school while she went to an academic school – she was always cleverer than me – and, like most siblings, i did feel a bit of pressure. she was gorgeous too and when we went to italy one year, all the men would comment on how beautiful she was with her long blonde hair, freckles and green eyes, while i was the frumpy one plodding behind with my ball of brown hair! We’ve had some rocky times in our relationship since then, but the culprit has always been men. Dina is very good at biting her tongue, whereas i’m the total opposite. the day before her wedding, i was begging her not to marry her partner (they’re now separated) and we didn’t speak for a long while after that. i remember sending her a text saying, “i’m completely heartbroken” – i was. We didn’t have some big reunion though – we just started talking one day as if nothing had ever happened; i suppose that’s what being sisters is all about.

HER ZEST FOR LIFE INSPIRES ME EVERY DAY

I couldn’t have got through the birth of my first daughter without her there. i was in labour for 48 hours and spent most of that time shouting at her to help me – there were a lot of complications and i thought i was going to die. it was horrible, but she didn’t leave my side once. then after Maddie finally arrived at 5am on Christmas Day, she rushed home and cooked a full roast dinner for the entire family. We really have been through the best and worst times together. Being two years older than me, Dina has often been through the things I’m dealing with, whether that’s the menopause or those tricky stages your kids get to. there are a million things i could ask her about and she’ll have an answer. and she’s a great confidante to my daughters too; there are always things you’re too scared to say to your mum, aren’t there?

Dina recently moved in next door to me following a break-up, and that’s been lovely. one of our favourite things to do together is to spend an afternoon cooking – she’s incredible in the kitchen. in fact, when i won Celebrity MasterChef in 2012, it was a victory for us both. she was the person i’d ring up and say, “What do you think of this?” Everything had to have her stamp of approval.

As Dina is getting older, she’s revving up rather than slowing down. i’ll always find an excuse not to do things, whereas she’s retrained as an art teacher, become a Zumba instructor and she does ballet and tap dancing too. Her zest for life inspires me every day.