Katie Piper: When things get difficult, I become stronger

The activist and author tells Katie Wright why lockdown has helped her evolve as a person.

Katie Piper

Looking back on life in lockdown, Katie Piper chuckles when she considers how her spirits have soared and plummeted over the last year.

“One day, you’re literally like, ‘Oh, this is nice. I’m at home. This is really lovely. I love my tracksuit’. Then the next day, you’re raging ‘Who am I?'” the 37-year-old tells me on a Zoom call from her home in London where she lives with husband Richard and daughters Belle (7) and Penelope (3).

“It’s only with hindsight we can laugh because, you know, there’s been times when it has been so bleak,” she adds.

One of the upsides of working from home during the pandemic, however, is that the activist, author and presenter has had more time for pampering.

“I used to have a routine of every Sunday doing a hair mask, but now three times a week, I’m putting on an intense hair mask and doing a Pantene Rescue Shot,” says the mum-of-two, who is also a Pantene ambassador.

The hair brand has just released the results of a survey which found that more than half (53%) of women who colour their hair are choosing to go blonde, with a third of those with bleached hair saying their lightened locks gives them confidence.

Piper, who was born in Hampshire says she can relate to those findings, having trained as a beautician in her teens and worked as a model.

“I was a real girly girl, but also very experimental, like hacking it off myself, dyeing it myself. And then after I was burned, I went through a really hard journey with my hair, where I had it shaved off, I lost a lot of it.”

In 2008, Piper was the victim of an acid attack arranged by her ex-partner, which caused extensive burns to her face. After numerous operations, she had to wear a plastic mask for up to 23 hours a day to flatten her scars.

“I had to wear that for two years, which meant no make-up for two years, which was a big thing for someone like me, who was so into expressing myself in that way.

“So, I put all my energy into my hair. I was like, ‘Right, my face is out of my control, but hair is in my control – I’m going to have the best hair on the burns unit’.

“I would go for appointments to get my bandages off my neck with a massive blow dry. It was like a joke all the nurses used to have about me, but it felt really good. And, you know, my hair was my best friend.”

Katie Piper at the National Television Awards

A born optimist, Piper has applied that same ‘always look on the bright side’ approach to the pandemic, too, finding a way to turn tough challenges into an opportunity for personal growth.

“I run a charity [The Katie Piper Foundation, which supports burns survivors] and that has been really stressful, because we physically treat patients, and we had patients in the middle of rehab when [lockdown] happened.

“It’s been really, really difficult, but do you know what? I kind of love it when things get difficult, because that’s when I find new things out about myself. I become stronger, I evolve more. When things are dreadful in my life, it’s always the best!”

Now, she’s feeling more optimistic than ever and looking ahead to when restrictions are (if all goes to plan) lifted in the summer.

“I feel really happy. The sun is out, we’ve got the 21st of June in our diary – everyone’s more optimistic. It’s just lighter, isn’t it? Like something’s lifted. And we needed that.”