Strictly Come Dancing's first winner Natasha Kaplinsky has spoken out about the trauma her family faced last summer when their boat caught on fire during their holiday in Greece. Appearing on Loose Women, the mother-of-two opened up about the moment she saw her daughter Angelia's face – who was eight at the time – which had been badly burnt. She said: "There is nothing worse than being a mum and seeing your child injured and thinking about her wedding day and I just couldn't bear it." Natasha, her father and Angelica were stranded in the sea for 45 minutes before anyone found them, which the newsreader has said was a "blessing in a way because the scars were much less because we were in the water for such a long time."
Natasha Kaplinsky's daughter Angelica suffered from burns during the boat fire
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Heartbreakingly, Natasha and her daughter both lost their eyebrows and eyelashes in the fire, but the doting mum made it a race with Angelica to see who could grow theirs back first. "Me and Angelica had a race about who could grow our eyebrows back first. We took the mirrors off the walls for three months," she said. One year on and Natasha and her family feel "very grateful" to be alive, and the TV personality praised the support of her family and friends, as well as ENDR treatment for helping them through the horrific time. "We are all so grateful to be here and I have to tell you it reminds you how precious life is. We feel so lucky about all the love we have had, we have had a massive love bomb in our house," she said.
The newsreader and her husband Justin
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Natasha is wife to Justin Bower, 45 - they are also parents to a son, Arlo, who is eleven years old. The couple own a holiday home on the Greek island. In March last year, the star opened up to HELLO! about her happy family. "I feel extremely blessed to have them in my life - they are by far the best thing that has ever happened to me. If Justin and I had met earlier maybe we would have tried to grow our family, but as it is, two children and all of our four-legged friends make me feel incredibly lucky," she said.
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