Claudia Winkleman says her psychologist friend saved her after her daughter’s horrifying Halloween accident.
The Strictly Come Dancing presenter’s then-eight-year-old daughter Matilda suffered burns after her fancy dress costume went up in flames after brushing against a candle during a night trick or treating in 2014.
Claudia opened up about the trauma she suffered as she watched her daughter recover from the incident, crediting child and adolescent clinical psychologist Tanya Byron for helping her through it.
Speaking to The Times (£), Claudia said: “I just knew I would need Tanya. I did [need her] and she put me back together again, let’s just say that. I am incredibly lucky that I happen to have an incredible friend who happens to be in my eyes the world’s best clinical psychologist and I was facing something that felt difficult.
“I don’t want to use big words because I have to be respectful to [my daughter] and the rest of my family, but Tanya genuinely, well, she saved me.“
Claudia also admitted she used to “replay the trauma” over and over after the accident and struggled not to be overprotective of Matilda and her siblings Jake, 16, and Arthur, eight.
Matilda, now 13, has had several operations since the accident.
A BBC Watchdog investigation looked into the flammability of children’s Halloween costumes in May 2015 and found some are classified as “toys” rather than “clothing”.
Supermarkets later heightened their safety testing for costumes.