Margaret Hussey chats to the TV presenter who has become quite an expert on the goings-on in our guts
Talking to a celebrity about bowel movements isn’t a conversation you have every day – but it has become something of a pet subject for Gaby Roslin.
Her father Clive had bowel cancer, her husband David lives with ulcerative colitis and she herself was diagnosed with a wheat allergy in her early thirties.
“When dad was diagnosed with bowel cancer in 1996 I suddenly realised I needed to learn more about health and nutrition,” says Gaby, 57.
“I really wanted to get to the bottom of it, no pun intended! That’s something I still do. I read proper medical papers, not just magazines.
“When he got out of hospital we were doing something for a bowel cancer charity with Prince Charles. It was for a news programme and they said, ‘Clive, can we talk to you and Gaby? Just to warn you please don’t say bottom or poo’.
“I looked at him and went, ‘Hold on a minute, we’re here talking about bowel cancer and you don’t want us to say bottom or poo?’.
“My father, who was 62 at the time, said, ‘Well, that’s ridiculous. I’m somebody who has survived bowel cancer and I’m utterly convinced that if I’d known more about it, been aware of the symptoms, I’d have gone to a screening’.”
Thankfully times have changed and Gaby firmly believes the more we talk, the more we learn.
“I’ve been for the camera up my bottom, I’ve had my checks. Diet is vitally important, exercise is vitally important, and if you get called in for a screening, please, please go,” she says.
Her husband, publisher David Osman, whom she married in 2013, is regularly checked too.
He’s had ulcerative colitis – a long-term condition where the colon and rectum become inflamed causing ulcers to develop on the colon’s lining – for years.
Since 2019, David’s been taking a water-based probiotic, Symprove, and Gaby, who is now an ambassador for the brand, says the results have been startling.
“David was advised by a nutritionist friend of ours to try it,” she says. “It changed my husband’s world.
“He went for his ‘inside’ camera check a while after he started taking it and they said there was no inflammation at all. They really couldn’t believe the difference. It was extraordinary.”
Seeing the results first hand convinced Gaby, whose wheat allergy was diagnosed 25 years ago, to try it for herself.
“I’ve had to live a gluten-free existence to be able to survive,” she says. “I try to cook fresh food every night. I’ll make fresh salmon, miso sauce and lots of roasted vegetables. Eat the rainbow, as they say.
“But I’d still never had normal bowel movements and then suddenly, taking Symprove, my word, it changed my life. This puts good gut bacteria in and gets rid of bad gut bacteria. Not only does it help me with my bowels and feeling better – there’s no bloating, which I used to have – but it also lifts your spirits.
“We all should listen to our gut and I mean that physically, mentally and emotionally.”
She now takes a shot every morning before working out, which is followed by breakfast “a huge one of eggs, spinach, mushrooms, beetroot, avocado, with some apple cider vinegar.
“I do think people are more aware of diets, but also they don’t want to be preached at,” she says. “I’m not putting myself out there as a guru.”
It’s now four years since Gaby gave up alcohol and the former The Big Breakfast presenter wishes she’d done it sooner. She walks, on average, eight miles a day and works out five days a week. “I do weights at home. I follow a few workouts online. I love feeling fit, it just fixes your head. I’m not a saint though – I love my ice cream.”
Lockdown saw her at home in London with David and her daughters Libbi-Jack, 20, and Amelie, 15. Clive, a former BBC announcer, is now in his late eighties and lives nearby.
“Dad walks a mile and a half every morning,” says Gaby, “but living on his own during lockdown was difficult.”
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Having celebrated 35 years in showbusiness in January, Gaby works for BBC Radio London, has stints on Virgin Radio, and records episodes of her eponymous podcast.
“I’m blessed to be doing the career I absolutely love and I feel very blessed that I’m married and have two kids.”
She is just as open with her daughters about health matters, talking about smear tests and mammograms.
“I think the more we talk about them, the better. I went for my mammogram and on my Instagram I put a picture of two melons and a bra!”
Her Instagram account is full of upbeat content and Gaby seems a naturally positive person. Does she ever get stressed?
“Not really,” she says. “If you can put a smile on one person’s face then you’ve won the day.”
That’s not to say she hasn’t experienced her own heartache, having lost her mother to lung cancer in 1997, on the day her father received the all-clear following his bowel cancer treatment.
“For years people used to say ‘Oh you’re always so happy’. And my reply was always ‘Yes, I’m so sorry’. But, after mum died, I thought ‘I’m never apologising for being happy again’.”
- For details on Symprove visit symprove.com.
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