Claudia Winkleman is the first to admit that she owes a lot to her close friend Tanya Bryon. The Strictly Come Dancing star revealed that the clinical psychologist helped her put the pieces back together again after her daughter, Matilda, suffered serious burns when a witch costume she was wearing on Halloween caught fire in 2014. Appearing on This Morning on Thursday to promote their new podcast How Did We Get Here?, Claudia said: "Tanya really helped, she was absolutely amazing and brilliant for me. What I had to do was stop my friends going through my phone and getting Tanya's number!"
© Photo: ITVClaudia Winkleman and close friend Tanya Bryon
In January, Claudia even went as far as to admit that Tanya "saved her life" following the horrific accident, telling The Times: "It's my daughter's story. But I just knew I would need Tanya. I did [need her] and she put me back together again, let's just say that." Claudia added that Tanya had been there to help when her family was "blindsided" by the ordeal and even said that she would "replay the trauma" which led her to be overly protective of Matilda and her two sons, Jake and Arthur.
Claudia continued: "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, um, difficult. I don't want to use big words because I have to be respectful to [my daughter] and the rest of the family, but Tanya genuinely, well, she saved me."
MORE: Inside Strictly and Best Home Cook host Claudia Winkleman's London home
© Photo: InstagramClaudia Winkleman's first ever Instagram post was of her children
MORE: Claudia Winkleman's gorgeous green jumper is a cult favourite with the Instagram fash pack
The incident left Matilda with bad burns as the flames engulfing her costume could not easily be extinguished, and Claudia was forced to step back from her 2014 Strictly Come Dancing hosting duties after the event. The star even went on to campaign against highly flammable Halloween costumes.
Like this story? Sign up to our newsletter to get other stories like this delivered straight to your inbox.
