Gemma Cairney: ‘I’ve Done A Lot Of Soul Searching, I Think Most Women Do’

It might take a lot of confidence to take part in an underwear campaign, butGemma Cairney{ =nofollow}says that confidence hasn't always come naturally. The presenter has just taken part in Sloggi's Unfastened campaign, which saw her, and a group of women, take to the streets of London's Brick Lane modelling wire-free underwear in a colourful shoot.

'If you ask anyone like that, how they feel about turning up to a photo shoot, which is going to involve underwear, it really does require like a moment for yourself to really think about what you feel about your body, your projection, what you're putting out there.'

'I've done a lot of soul searching,' she adds, ' I think most women, most people, do. What I really realised, in the simplest form of like my relationship with my body and feeling comfortable, is not to over scrutinise it and go with it. Our bodies are always changing as women especially like even month to month our bodies are so different.'

One of the things she says which have helped her feel her best is wild swimming, which she picked up when she moved away from London a few years ago. She's now back in London, but she says it showed her how exercise can be just to make you feel good. 'It taught me that exercises and has to be about a fad or, or changing the shape of my body as such to be slim, or desirable.'

Gemma{ =nofollow}has worked as a broadcaster since she was 23, and says that while there ' shouldn't just be one person putting their head above the parapet' that there have been years of sexism in the creative industries. How can that change? 'I think if we can learn to respect like all the different facets and the nuance of womanhood, then we can really get somewhere.'

And what advice does she give to women who want to feel their most empowered selves? 'I say remember what you've got around you, like your own personal love and joy, and the simplicity of things that create really good vibes. And that's just good music. Or ringing up an old friend. Or forgiving yourself for a bad decision you made 10 years ago.'

Gemma has been working on sloggi’s Unfastened campaign. Designed to set women free from wires, the campaign heroes the bodywear brand’s pledge to become a completely wireless bodywear brand by 2023.

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