BYE-BYE BIKINI TOPS

Samantha Brick, 52, has no qualms about sunbathing topless and thinks we should all follow suit

- SAMANTHA BRICK

At the start of summer my husband Pascal, 62, and I left our home in the south of France, got into our car and headed further southwards, checking into a gorgeous hotel on the Med for a week of sea, sand and sunshine.

After a late afternoon check-in and with the glorious rays of sunshine still strong, I decided to get some sun on my body. Our hotel was a small one and each room had a private terrace overlooking the sea. I’d already wriggled into a string bikini. After getting settled on the sunbed, I whipped off my bikini top. Then began liberally applying sunscreen all over.

Within minutes of having stripped off, I was lying back on my lounger. Moments later the tuts of disapproval started up. They were coming from the balcony next to me. I opened my eyes and that’s when I noticed a woman peering over the privacy screen separating our terraces. She was genuinely horrified at seeing me (almost) naked as nature intended.

Look, I’m not an exhibitionist and I certainly wasn’t flashing my topless form on purpose. The person doing the tutting had to look - and I mean really look - over the dividing screen between our balconies. Of course I immediately sat up and reached for my bikini top. Peering through the dividing screen, I saw a rather staid middle-aged British couple who were about to have gin and tonics on their terrace. While I tied up my top on this occasion, it annoyed me that I’d done so. In 2023 is a woman sunbathing topless really something to be scandalised about?

I haven’t stopped thinking about this episode with a woman who is undoubtedly less at ease with her body than I am. Guilty as charged, I would have reacted the same way when I was still living in the UK, in Birmingham. After all,