Loose Women star Sophie Morgan has opened up about the challenges she has faced since she was left paralysed from the chest down following a car crash – and the impact it has had on her sex life.
The 37-year-old panelist’s life was changed forever when she was aged 18 when she crashed her own car while driving a group of friends between A-Level celebration parties.
The accident saw her sustain a range of agonising injuries including damage to her face and skull – and she also knocked one of the vertebrae in her spine out of place, leaving her paralysed for life.
Sophie now uses a wheelchair to get around and also has access to a pair of robotic legs – however she says losing the use of her legs was the least of her worries.
Speaking to OK!, the TV presenter said: “It’s a bit frustrating when people assume the worst thing that’s happened to you is you can’t walk. That’s the last thing that matters in many ways.
“It’s so much of the other things – personal, sexual relationships, relationships with yourself and the wider world.
"I wanted to drill into the nuances of that. That meant taking people step by step into what it’s like to wake up with a different body.”
“Non-disabled and disabled are very different experiences. It does feel like two different lives.
"The person I became after my injury is very different to the person I was. I’ve grown up, obviously, as I was a kid, but those two realities, personalities, identities definitely feel very split.”
Sophie has written about her life experience in her new memoir, titled Driving Forwards: A Journey of Resilience and Empowerment After Life-changing Injury.
Inside the memoir, she writes about her first sexual experience after her car crash.
Describing the moment, Sophie recalled: “His hands disappeared beneath the invisible level of my paralysis and I held my breath in hope.
"But when he manoeuvred himself between my legs and asked me if I could feel it, I knew in an instant that my life would never be the same again.”
Earlier this year, Sophie explained why she celebrates the day of her crash during an appearance on Loose Women.
She said: “I kind of think of myself as having two birthdays, because when I had my injury I set that as a birthday almost.
“Some people with a spinal injury refer to themselves as having two ages. So when I was first injured I was zero, and now I'm 18, because I've been paralysed for 18 years.
“So I mark the anniversary of my crash as much as I do a birthday and I go big on those ones. I celebrate every anniversary. I celebrate it every time, go big every time, more so than birthdays I think.”
While a year before, she said: “I think people are frightened of change, they don't want it, there's a fear around it.
“But for me, because my change ended up giving so many positives, I sort of lean into it, I seek it out. I want life to be different and to be full of variety and excitement.
“I suppose I learned the hard way that the worst things that happen to you can lead to the best of life. It's hard for people to relate, they see my disability and think it ruins a life - but I found it to be the opposite, I think it made my life.”
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