I barely used suncream and always wanted a dark mahogany tan. Then, in her 50s, ULRIKA JONSSON was bullied and judged for her ‘leathery’ skin. This is how she reversed the damage… and the one thing she’ll never do again

I felt such relief last year when I was offered treatment for my sun-damaged skin. I believed it was too late for me and I was doomed to suffer the consequences of decades of sun worship and poor care.

The offer came after I joined Spencer Matthews’ Untapped podcast to discuss my life before and after sobriety – and stupidly forgot that in these modern times, audio is also visual. It comes naturally, the stick is moisturizing and mascaraI would pay a heavy, public price.

Then I made another mistake of looking at social media comments and the words ‘aged badly’ caught my eye. Instead of focusing on my honesty about my problems with alcohol, social media was set ablaze with criticism about my leathery, over-tanned face.

I pointed to my oldest daughter, Bo, who is 25, and she very sweetly told me to focus on kind words, not cruel ones. But who can do this? It’s always the negative things that are permanent.

I’m really sorry. First, it’s so frustrating when people judge a woman’s appearance rather than her words or actions. I also suffered from skin issues from childhood into adulthood; embarrassing outbreaks of eczema would appear on my body and face in response to stress or allergies. I was never confident in my skin; it was volatile and, at times, crushingly disappointing.

Because of my eczema, I was led to believe that the sun was my skin’s friend, and from many medical perspectives, it was. I was told to use a UV lamp and then go to the sun loungers, wash with sea salt and apply firming creams.

As a child of the 70s and a teenager of the 80s, no one wanted to be protected from the sun. There wasn’t much SPF around; the mindset was all about speeding up the tan. The darker the shade of mahogany, the more lush you will be. Also, as a Northern child who only saw five to six hours of daylight in the winter, I sought out and worshiped the sun whenever I could.

I loved and still love how sunlight revives your soul. As for premature aging, it wasn’t something I focused on in my 20s. I used SPF but not religiously; If I went on holiday, I would want to tan.

Age 52: After years of sun worship, a super-tanned Ulrika in 2020

Age 23: Ulrika during her career as a TV presenter in 1990

I admit that a big part of my career is due to my pretty face. I was blonde, had blue eyes, and looked quite innocent. As men say, it is ‘easy on the eyes’. But then I was only 20 years old. But I never thought about the value of my face. For me, my career was all about the work I did. Even though I was described as ‘sexy’, ‘Swedish’ and ‘blonde’, I didn’t care what others thought of my appearance. After all, most people in Sweden are blonde, so I was no extraordinary exception.

My father died suddenly of a cerebral hemorrhage at the age of 53, so I always knew that getting older was not guaranteed. In fact, I had never considered a life beyond the age of 50. But now here I am, almost 59, being bullied and judged for my appearance.

I didn’t bother with much skin care. I’ve been using La Mer moisturizer for decades because it agrees with me. I’ve never had a regular facial. And I always knew that worshiping the sun would come with a price.

As a feminist, I try not to care what others say, but it’s impossible. I think what bothers me the most is how cruel people want to be. The bar for women is incredibly high. A man wouldn’t receive the same amount of criticism.

But on a personal level, this experience showed me how my skin was viewed by others, and I didn’t like what I saw. Dr. from Define Clinic in Beaconsfield. When Benji Dhillon invited me for a consultation, I jumped at the chance because I really needed help.

Over the years I haven’t done much to counteract the aging process. I had Botox and some fillers in my eyebrows, but looking old is not something that bothers me. Anti-aging was not addressed in Dr Dhillon; The focus was on treatments to rejuvenate, renew and repair my sun-damaged skin.

His knowledge and experience consisted of judgment; It gave me hope that someone wasn’t ashamed or looking at me hopelessly. We agreed on a plan of various treatments over a six-month period and, perhaps most importantly, a skincare regimen that included medical-grade products.

At first I rolled my eyes at the thought of spending hours cleansing, exfoliating, and moisturizing my skin, but the routine actually only takes me a few minutes at either end of the day. In doing this, I learned to value and respect my skin like never before.

It helped me to quit drinking alcohol 22 months ago. While I don’t have a long history of alcohol abuse, it had become problematic for me over the last few years. Since starting Teetotal, I have embarked on an incredible healing journey and found an inner peace I didn’t think was possible. I went from feeling like I wasn’t cut out for life to a woman in her late 50s who can’t wait to see what the future holds. So if I worked hard to repair my soul and mindset, why wouldn’t I want to improve my skin? This was my next act of self-care.

It’s frustrating that we have such a negative approach to aging. Old age should be celebrated and valued as a privilege. The current fad of stuffing faces with fillers and Botox to stay young forever has started a group of Stepford Wives. Their aesthetic journeys have created a terrifying template of look-alike women with rubbery lips, over-swollen cheeks and frozen faces.

I’m not against these treatments, but if the first thing you notice about a person is their dull facial features, the esthetician isn’t doing it right. The approach should be focused on balance and improvement, not exaggeration. I implicitly trusted Dr Dhillon because he saw me as an individual and his intention was never to change my appearance but to enhance it.

I respect my skin more now. I haven’t sat in the sun since the day I met Dr Dhillon and I will never use a sunbed again. The miracle is that since I got help with my skin, I use SPF every day, even during the winter.

But the most fundamental change was the way I felt about my face. I can say with all my heart that now, when I look in the mirror, I know that I did my best. My face is not perfect; This is the face of a man who is almost 59 years old. But I can honestly say that this is the first time in my life that I accept it. I don’t have to look 39 years old. This is how I’m supposed to look.