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Ulrika Jonsson reclaiming her body after being seen as 'sex object'

Winner of Celebrity Big Brother Ulrika Jonsson leaves the house at the Celebrity Big Brother Final, at Elstree Studios, Borehamwood, Hertfordshire.
Ulrika Jonsson (PA)

Ulrika Jonsson has hit out at those criticising her for sharing a naked selfie, saying it’s time to reclaim her body after being viewed as a sex object.

The TV star, 53, posted the nude snap of her with her back to a mirror on Instagram this week.

Addressing her decision in The Sun, she said the response she received suggested she had touched a nerve but that sharing the image was something she had done for herself.

The star told how she had struggled to feel a sense of ownership over her body from a young age and that it was time to own it.

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“It was a note to myself,” she said of the picture.

“A reminder that for all that my body has endured, I now need to reclaim it and do something I’ve never really done before: Own it.”

Adding a note to her four children, she said: “And for the record, children, I ­honestly don’t care much for your embarrassment.

“My body. My rules.”

In the column, Jonsson revealed that during her life she has faced criticism for her body, for her “bow legs and fat a***”, and was hit by both puberty and menopause. She also told how she felt she was under pressure to snap back into shape after her pregnancies because she was in the public eye.

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Touching on being sexually assaulted at 19, she said at the time she did not think she had a right to complain and that it had caused her to have a “confusing and conflicting relationship” with her body.

Jonsson said it makes her laugh to think that at the height of her career she was “portrayed as some kind of sex object” when she did not feel that way.

PA NEWS PHOTO 2/10/97  TV PRESENTER ULRIKA JONSSON AT A PHOTOCALL IN LONDON   (Photo by PA Images via Getty Images)
Ulrika Jonsson in 1997 (PA Images via Getty Images)

She said now she is older, she no longer feels under pressure to conform to someone else’s ideal and that it is now time to reclaim and embrace her body.

“After all, it’s the only one I’ve got,” she said.

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