We took down mirrors so we wouldn’t see our boat blaze burns, reveals Natasha
NATASHA Kaplinsky yesterday told how she removed all the mirrors from her home as she and her daughter recovered from facial burns suffered when their boat exploded during a family holiday last summer.
The newsreader also revealed that she and Angelica, eight, are still dealing with the trauma of the horrific incident with the help of a form of psychotherapy used to treat war veterans.
Miss Kaplinsky, 46, was boating off Corfu with her husband Justin Bower and children Arlo, nine, and Angelica when the vessel stuttered and stopped after a fuel leak.
Fighting back tears as she spoke publicly about the incident for the first time on ITV’s Loose Women, she said: ‘My husband made a phone call to get some advice and he was advised to turn the key to see what was happening with the pressure. It was like a James Bond moment – the whole boat just blew.’
The family had to tread water for 45 minutes before they were discovered and airlifted to hospital, but the former BBC broadcaster said this was a ‘blessing’ as being in the water for so long meant their scarring was less severe. She described her despair over Angelica’s burns, saying: ‘I just kept on looking at her and her face, because that’s what was injured for her, and her arm, and thinking about her wedding day.
‘It was one of the moments where you think: “I just can’t bear it.”’
Miss Kaplinsky and her daughter both lost their eyebrows and eyelashes in the explosion in June, but the former Strictly Come Dancing champion revealed they had a ‘race’ to regrow them.
She said: ‘We took all the mirrors away from the walls in the house and stayed home for three months to see whose eyelashes and eyebrows would grow back first.
‘It was almost better that we were both injured in the same way. If it was just her, I couldn’t bear that, to watch her go through it.’
Miss Kaplinsky revealed she and Angelica are undergoing eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing, a psychotherapy treatment to help deal with traumatic memories. ‘It is so helpful but a very, very painful process,’ she said.
‘We are very grateful just to still all be here. It gives you an appreciation of how precious each day is.’