Health
Former Miss World Rosanna Davison – daughter of the Irish singer Chris de Burgh - never looks less than fabulous. But the model, actress and nutritionist tells Emily Hourican that she sometimes struggles with her weight
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Body beautiful: model Rosanna Davison works hard to stay in shape
74 Northern Woman
’m sure it is pathetic to take comfort from the fact that even the naturally slim and beautiful need to work at their appearance, but it is also only human. And so, when I hear Rosanna Davison - formally crowned the most beautiful woman in the world in 2003 - admit “I have to work very hard to stay slim and toned, and especially as I get older, as my body would love to be bigger than it is”, I feel a bit like cheering. At her honesty, and at the sheer normality of it all. And at the fact that she isn’t just making this stuff up to allow the rest of us to feel better, but is speaking from tricky experience. “I put on weight very quickly after our wedding in 2014,” she says. Rosanna is married to businessman and model, Wesley Quirke. “I had been so disciplined all year in the run-up to the celebrations. I had focused on removing refined sugar and alcohol from my diet as much as possible, and had really wanted to look and feel my very best on the big day. But once the wedding was over, I felt that I could relax and enjoy all the foods I had banned myself from eating. “So that’s what I did! I ate all the high-carb food I had denied myself. I ate desserts, drank wine and enjoyed sugary cocktails every day.” The result? “I put on weight so quickly during the honeymoon that most of my clothes were too tight by the last few days of the holiday, and I had to wear baggy T-shirts and shorts. When we arrived home again, we had to go to a good friend’s engagement party, and there was only one dress in my wardrobe that would fit me, and the zip on it kept popping open all night!” As for how that made her feel, again, Rosanna is commendably honest. “It definitely did affect my self-confidence, to the point that I avoided going to social events because none of my clothes would fit me.” She also manages to keep a sense of perspective: “I appreciate that plenty of people go through periods of weight gain, whether from medication or childbirth or many other reasons, and my story probably sounds insignificant in comparison.