The television presenter was awarded an MBE for her services to broadcasting in the King’s Birthday Honours
Television personality Claudia Winkleman has opened up about her health struggles, revealing a chronic eye condition left her “never really” able to see her own face in the mirror. The 53-year-old star, who yesterday was awarded an MBE by King Charles, has undergone various operations to try to correct her vision.
Previously the Traitors host has spoken about “how blind” she is as she struggled with myopia, or short-sightedness, for years. In an interview with the How To Fail podcast last November, she explained: “I’ve always had terrible eyesight, which goes back to the blurriness of the paintings I like and the blurriness of how I really like life to be.
“I’ve had a couple of operations since then because I was just banging into walls. But now I wear lenses or glasses or whatever.” She continued: “A lit candle and everything is just a bit fuzzy around the outside.
“I was born, I think, with minus 15, so I’ve never really been able to see my face. It’s all guesswork.
“But everything is ish, it’s just a vague idea, which is how I’d like to live. I don’t want to live in ‘perfect land’. I want to live in ‘fuzzy world’.
“If there’s perfect here — people who want things to look good and ordered and alphabetised and organised — and then there’s the other end, I’m past the other end. I like irregular and ramshackle and messy. Just look at the way I do my eye make-up. I’m not very good at neat.”
As reported by The Sun, she admitted that she has previously struggled to read an autocue while presenting. She also revealed that her vision problems have changed over time as she went from being short-sighted to long-sighted.
In 2021 she said: “I can’t even begin to tell you how blind I am. It’s embarrassing. I can’t read the autocue. My eyes have deteriorated so badly, I’m not meant to drive. I am doing the wrong job.”
In another interview on Gabby Logan’s podcast The Mid Point in December, Claudia said: “I’ve had lens replacement. I’ve had so many operations on my eyes. I had a lens replacement in my left eye because my astigmatism was so bad. I was minus 16, but that was 14 years ago.
“Then I had a little fiddle with it, but because I was so short-sighted, by fixing it I’m now long-sighted, so I can’t really read anymore. I can with glasses—I’ve got plus 2.5—but I can’t read The Bee Sting with those glasses and that light.”
Yesterday (June 13), Claudia was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the King’s Birthday Honours alongside her Strictly Come Dancing co-host, Tess Daly.
“I am incredibly grateful to receive this honour,” Claudia said. “It’s a real privilege to work with extraordinarily talented people and I have only got this because of them.
“So this is for the BBC, the traitors and the faithful, for pianos and for the cha cha. I will buy a hat and am taking my mum. I am ridiculously lucky and will celebrate with Tess by doing a paso doble.”