'Make your own Christmas traditions

Judi Love tells us why she's doing things her own way this festive season

- YASMIN VINCE

One of the first things that strikes us when we catch up with Judi Love, is her sparkly confidence. But that confidence didn’t arrive overnight, it's been a journey, she reveals, recalling how she was actually a “shy child” growing up.

And as the 45-year-old admits, being asked where she gets it from is something she still struggles with. “I always battle with this question,” she reveals. “Because I feel like people only ask me how I am so confident because I'm plus-size.

“When I speak to other women in the industry who are deemed a ‘normal size’ - when on average they're not, because the average normal size is around 16 to 18 — they are never really asked that question about confidence.

The Loose Women favourite adds, “Honestly? I think that confidence is about the individual. It's definitely not about what you're wearing, or about size, it’s just about you as a person.”

Judi’s charisma and passion about what really matters in life comes across in her TV work — and has seen her make TV history. In 2020, she was part of the first all-Black female panel on Loose Women — and it's a milestone she still feels proud about to this day.