Nadia Sawalha facts for kids

Nadia Sawalha (born 18 November 1964) is a well-known English actress, TV presenter, writer, and cook. Many people know her as one of the main hosts on the ITV daytime chat show Loose Women. She was one of the first hosts when the show started in 1999 and returned in 2013.

Nadia also played Gina in the ITV comedy Second Thoughts from 1992 to 1994. Later, she starred as Annie Palmer in the BBC One soap opera EastEnders from 1997 to 1999. She has also appeared in other popular shows like The Bill, Casualty, and Benidorm.

In 2007, Nadia won the TV cooking competition Celebrity MasterChef. She also shares cooking videos with her sister Dina on YouTube.

Early life

Nadia Sawalha grew up and still lives in Croydon, a part of south London. Her father, Nadim Sawalha, is a British actor who was born in Jordan. Her mother is Roberta Lane. Nadia has a sister, Julia Sawalha, who is also a TV actress. The sisters have even appeared on TV shows together.

Career

Nadia Sawalha started her acting career in theatre after studying at the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts. From 1997 to 1999, she became famous for playing the businesswoman Annie Palmer in EastEnders. She also had roles in other TV dramas like Casualty and the police show The Bill. Nadia has also acted in films such as Clockwise (1986) and the BBC drama Station Jim (2001).

From 1999 to 2002, Nadia was a regular host on the popular chat show Loose Women. She returned to the show in October 2013 and has been a main host for many years since.

Nadia has presented many other TV programmes for the BBC. These include Passport to the Sun, Heir Hunters, and Perfect Partner. She also co-hosted City Hospital, a live documentary series. Nadia presented Living in the Sun, which was about British people living in Spain. She also hosted Wanted Down Under, a show that helped families decide if they wanted to move to Australia or New Zealand.

In 2005, Nadia presented Mirror, Signal, Manoeuvre, a show about people learning to drive. She even learned to drive and passed her test on the show!

Nadia co-presented The One Show with Adrian Chiles in 2006. After winning Celebrity MasterChef, she went on to co-present the children's version of the show, Junior Masterchef.

In 2011, Nadia took part in the TV competition Dancing on Ice. She skated with professional partner Mark Hanretty. She also guest presented the ITV Breakfast show Lorraine and appeared as a chef on the programme.

In 2012, she started co-presenting Saturday Cookbook on ITV Breakfast with chef Mark Sargeant.

In 2015, Nadia took part in Celebrity Big Brother on Channel 5. She stayed in the house for 24 days.

Nadia also hosted her own cooking show called Nadia's Family Feasts on ITV. She looked for new recipe ideas that would fit into busy family lives.

Today, Nadia hosts a podcast with her husband, Mark Adderley, called How to Stay Married (So Far). They talk about the everyday ups and downs of married life.

Books

• Stuffed Vine Leaves Saved My Life (2010)
• Greedy Girl's Diet (2013)
• Greedy Girl's Diet: Second Helpings! (2013)
• Fabulous Family Food (2014)
• Nadia Sawalha's Little Black Dress Diet (2016)
• Nadia and Kaye: Disaster Chef (2018) – with Kaye Adams

YouTube

Nadia Sawalha has a popular YouTube channel with her husband, Mark Adderley, called The Sawalha-Adderleys. It used to be called Nadia Sawalha and Family. They started the channel on 25 August 2014. Nadia's sister Dina and Mark's mother Diane also sometimes appear in their videos.

The channel first started with Nadia and Mark reviewing films and TV shows. By the end of 2014, they began making many different types of videos. They even did "Vlogmas," where they posted a video every day in December, which their fans loved. Since 2015, they often release at least two videos daily.

In December 2016, they started a special subscription service for their channel. For a small monthly fee, members could watch their weekly show called The No-Named Sunday show. This show includes different parts like cooking, book reviews, and even live chats.

Their YouTube channel has grown a lot! In February 2019, they reached 50,000 subscribers. On 4 May 2020, they hit 100,000 subscribers and received a "silver play button" from YouTube.

Personal life

Nadia Sawalha has spoken openly about some of her health experiences. She has dealt with a skin condition called psoriasis and also has tinnitus, which causes ringing in the ears.

In 2017, Nadia shared an emotional video online about her hair loss. She explained that her curly hair was not natural and that she was going through perimenopause, a natural stage before menopause. A doctor told her in 2016 that she had a gene that causes hair thinning.

On 25 November 2022, Nadia announced on Loose Women that she had been diagnosed with ADHD at the age of 58.

Nadia married her second husband, Mark Adderley, on 6 June 2002. They have discussed his journey to staying sober on their YouTube channel. Nadia is an atheist.

Filmography

Video games

Theatre credits

See also

• List of Celebrity Big Brother (British TV series) housemates
• List of Dancing on Ice contestants