PROUD. POWERFUL. UNAPOLOGETIC.

A decade on from the moment that changed her life forever, Katie Piper is thriving. Read on to learn how the 34-year-old mum-of-two and 2018 Strictly contestant has fought to carve out a life on her own terms, reclaim her body – and then some

Katie Piper is feeling herself. In the figurative sense. She’s spending the day on location in a cavernous industrial space – all brick walls, rusty metal and reclaimed furniture – tucked away down a Hackney side street. Face lit by dappled sunlight and a motherload of highlighter, body clad in premium activewear, she’s such a pro in front of the photographer’s lens that the shoot is nailed in record time. I’ve interviewed Katie twice before, on both occasions about the state of her mind rather than the prowess of her body. But considering how much more self-possessed she seems today, when, for many, swapping full clothing for skin-tight kit would elicit the opposite reaction, it’s obvious to me that this time we need to talk about both.

When she joins me on a threadbare sofa after wrapping up the last shot, with a plate of salmon, grains and greens (and a side of banana bread), she’s very obviously chuffed. ‘Seeing these pictures of myself today surprised me,’ she says, forking mouthfuls of salad between sentences. You’ve likely read about Katie’s 2st ‘post-baby’ weight loss on her Instagram feed and in the subsequent newspaper articles. You’ll have also heard the news that broke the day this issue was sent to print: Katie will be donning her dancing shoes to join the 2018 Strictly lineup, and she won’t look out of place among those seasoned pros. Her golden limbs are taut, shapely and powerful; abs chiselled; back and shoulders displaying visible strength. ‘I know I’ve been following a plan,

I know I’ve been exercising, but I didn’t really know I looked like this, you know? It was good to get this shoot date in the diary and think, this is a challenge to get really healthy. And I’m going to enjoy the challenge, in quite a sick way!’ she laughs. So she’s something of a wellness masochist? ‘There’s nothing wrong with accepting that when you look good in your clothes, you feel good. I’m not saying looking good equals happiness, or that it’s the be all and end all, but it’s a factor in wellbeing and happiness. And if you can improve that, why wouldn’t you?’

As refreshing as it is to hear someone own the fact that they prioritise their health to – shock horror – feel and look at the top of their game, aesthetics aren’t Katie’s only motivation to train hard. Committing to a healthy lifestyle is key to maintaining what she terms the ‘internal core stability’ she credits with driving her forward. With that in your arsenal, ‘you can have nothing, and still have everything ’, she says. ‘Everything can be taken away from you medically, emotionally, financially, but you’ve got everything and could be the envy of a billionaire.’ Coming from most, the words would sound flippant. But if anyone has the right to say them, it’s Katie.

Before the philanthropy, presenting gigs, clothing lines and bestselling books came a single moment that would reroute 24-year-old Katie’s life forever. We don’t want to go over old ground, but for those not au fait with Katie’s story: a decade ago, she experienced an acid attack at the hands of an ex. From that moment – face and body severely burned; vision gone in her left eye – Katie’s life was in the hands of medics at the Royal Chelsea and Westminster Hospital. What followed was a 12-day induced coma, pioneering skin graft surgery and over 300 more operations to date. Katie shrank to 6st and, after weeks in bed, required physio to relearn how to walk – even how to swallow.

BUILDING STRENGTH

So while the word ‘journey’ is as overused as the Mayfair Instagram filter, Katie’s past decade is worthy of the term. Slowly, she began to recover, first in hospital in London, then in France for specialist aftercare, before moving home to Hampshire to be looked after by her mum. ‘Expectations were so low,’ she remembers. ‘People were like, “Oh, you won’t exercise again,” and when I was 24, it made me feel so old to hear that.’ Such was her determination to support others with severe burns that she set up her charity, The Katie Piper Foundation (which aims to raise awareness of the struggles of people with burns and other disfiguring injuries and make the specialist treatment Piper received more readily available in the UK), in that first year and moved back to the capital, alone.

It wasn’t until she began exercising again – half walking, half jogging near her flat in Chiswick – that she felt as though she was reclaiming her body. She couldn’t undo what happened to her; the emotional scars weren’t going anywhere. But a jog – no matter how short, or slow – was something she could do for herself, by herself. The moment she ran the 20-minute journey between her office and home (out of necessity – she had no Oyster card to get the bus or cash to hail a cab), she felt something shift. She did it again – and again. ‘I was quite lonely because I didn’t have a boyfriend or many friends, so I started spending my weekends doing races. Then I progressed to a half-marathon and I actually enjoyed it! It was in this moment that I connected with exercise… I was like, “I feel free – I feel young… I’m not going to accept those low expectations,”’ she recalls. ‘Instead of getting better, I wanted to go beyond.’ If ‘beyond better’ was the brief, fronting Women’s Health must be hard evidence that she has, in fact, smashed it.

‘I know I’ve been exercising, but I didn’t know I looked like this’

SHAPE SHIFTING

So how did Katie make the transition from regular runner to today’s muscular 5ft 1in powerhouse? First, she’s a glutton for structure and employs the self-discipline of a drill sergeant. Whether or not her sleep is interrupted by her daughters – four-yearold Belle and nine-month-old Penelope – on days at home, her 6am workout alarm is always set. ‘If I don’t use that time when they’re asleep, it’s difficult to work out.

And, in a way, that’s good,’ she says. ‘That structure and discipline, it takes on the pattern my life had shortly after 2008, when my physio and medical appointments were so regimented. It sounds a bit like the military, but it’s how I live my life.’

Her no-bs personal trainer Louise Boucek has certainly helped, too. ‘When I first met her [seven months ago], she told me, “We’re going to get you doing pull-ups!”’ Katie, who only gave birth to Penelope last December and hadn’t exercised for a year before that, had her reservations. But Louise helped build Katie’s strength and now she can comfortably bang out three, unassisted, in their sessions, the regularity of which varies depending on her work. As much as Katie loves lifting heavy in the gym, a fixed regime isn’t always doable. A career that rules out a set schedule and her resolve to be as handson as possible when it comes to rearing Belle and Penelope see to that. So, Katie’s learnt to improvise: swimming once a week (‘Belle has a weekly lesson, so I jump in the lane next to her and the instructor and swim nonstop for 30 minutes’); doing squats and lunges at the park or in the kitchen; heading out on a run or skipping in the back garden. ‘I get my blood pumping more on a three-minute skip than I would on a 5k run,’ she enthuses.

Rather unfashionably for 2018, Katie’s as much a fan of playing by the rule book in the kitchen as she is in the gym. She’s not arbitrarily restricting entire food groups, but tries to work with a set daily calorie amount and consumes everything within a strict eight-hour window as per intermittent fasting, one of the nutrition world’s hottest trends. Katie does her early morning workouts fasted, followed by plenty of water and a black coffee. Rather than grabbing toast or a cereal bar while getting Belle ready for school, Katie waits until she drops her off to eat ‘something proper’, like sautéed mushrooms on toast or oats with seeds and berries and a bit of maple syrup. And you’d better believe she does it mindfully: no scrolling, no Holly and Phil on the TV. ‘I’ll

taste it, chew it and remind myself it contains all the nutrients I need – then I’m full until lunch.’ Katie’s midday meal is something already prepped and packed – ‘like salmon or turkey with greens and sweet potato’. Her early-bird 5pm dinner might be butternut squash lasagne with a side of kale or broccoli. ‘Eating within that window takes some adjusting to, but it forces structure in a really good way,’ she says. ‘It stops me from having dinner at 9pm and then not being able to digest my food properly, then having a late night instead of an early start for training.’

KEEP IT IN CHECK

If her daily schedule sounds virtuous, Katie’s keen not to project an image of optimum health and positivity all the time, especially when it comes to her mind. During the Uk-wide tour of her one-woman show, What’s In My Head, earlier this year, she was frank about the ongoing implications of her traumatic experiences – and she says as much today. ‘I live with anxiety and I still get depressed. Because you don’t go through life-changing things and just get better and it’s over – you learn to live with it.’ Maternal mental health is currently a real talking point; how did her latest pregnancy affect her psychologically? ‘When you have another child, you have no downtime. I did feel depressed and low,’ she explains. ‘But your body is going through changes, physically and hormonally, so I just tried to check in on myself, to make sure it wasn’t spiralling.’ In low moments, Katie would work through her self-care checklist: ‘Do I need more sleep? Do I need to see a therapist? Do I need to start writing a journal to offload my thoughts?’

This holistic approach is at the centre of her latest project, The Healthy Happy Mum Plan*, a health manual that combines recipes and workouts with mindfulness, body confidence tips and relaxation exercises. What prompted her to write a ‘how-to’ wellness guide? ‘Everyone contacts me with the same questions: how can I be more confident? How can I get over my anxiety? And, without being preachy, I do believe that diet is so key. What we put in our bodies can make us feel depressed or anxious, and it’s the same for fitness,’ she says. ‘I think it all joins up in this big circle.’ A pause. I can tell she’s already anticipating a backlash from her 703k followers. ‘I know hearing that [food and movement have a direct bearing on one’s mental state] makes some people cross. Like, there are people online who, when I put pictures up, say, “You’re making mums feel bad!” And it’s like, if you feel bad about this photo of me, those are your personal insecurities. I’m not about making people feel inadequate, trust me.’

POWER UP

I suppose being picked apart is the flip side of living life as a figurehead for a good cause, someone who, despite having a story blessedly unimaginable to most, millions still relate to. Her take on why she continues to resonate? ‘Because I’m a mess? Ha! I don’t know! Maybe just because I don’t get everything right...’ she offers. I’d hazard a guess that it’s got more to do with her politely packaged but unmistakable fighter’s spirit. Whether that’s for greater visibility and acceptance of people with scarring and disfigurements (‘When this happened to me, I remember people saying, “Well, your life’s going to be very different now,” and I remember thinking, “Says who? Why?”’), or for herself, and that sense of pride and ownership over her body. ‘There are so many things that can happen to us in life where you think, “I can’t cope, I can’t deal with it,” but you probably can,’ she says. ‘You are always bigger than the problem, the problem can never be bigger than you.’ Women of Britain, consider yourself galvanised.

‘You don’t go through lifechanging things and just get better – you learn to live with it’