Victoria Derbyshire has revealed she walks around naked in the house in front of her two sons and they “don’t bat an eyelid”.
The BBC presenter, 49, was discussing nudity in light of her appearance on an upcoming ITV show, where she will “disrobe” to raise awareness about breast cancer. Derbyshire had a mastectomy after being diagnosed in 2015.
The mum to two sons, aged 11 and 13, said the show is not just “nudity for the sake of it”, but for a purpose, “to say this is what can happen when you get a diagnosis of breast cancer”.
“In my house I don’t have body issues,” she told Radio Times. “I have a partner and two boys, I walk around naked in front of them and it’s no big deal.”
Derbyshire continued: “I am happy for [my sons] to see what a mum of two who’s had breast cancer looks like.
“They don’t bat an eyelid. Of course they don’t. I’m their mum. But what we are planning to do [on television] is on a different scale altogether.”
Is there an age limit to being naked in front of your children? We asked the HuffPost UK Parents readers on Facebook who largely agreed that it very much depends on the family - and perhaps the ages of the kids.
“Nothing wrong with this, your home, your way of life,” said dad Antony O’Sullivan. “She is not sexualising herself in front of her kids so who gives a shit? There are millions of families who live a nudist lifestyle at home.”
And mum Laura Gale added: “The human body is nothing to be ashamed of.”
Dad Callum Dodsworth felt nudity around kids may be dependant on age, “It depends whether or not the kids are comfortable with it,” he wrote. “Most kids reach a certain age where they really just don’t want to see their parents naked. Usually the teen years.”
Alex Cunningham, who blogged about this topic on HuffPost, said she always walks around naked in front of her daughter. “When my daughter sees me comfortable in my skin, it gives her permission to be comfortable in hers,” she wrote. “She’s going to know self love because she can witness a living example. When the time is right, that will be one of many conversations I have with my daughter. Publicly, I hope to continue to challenge our way of thinking when it comes to nudity.”
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