Fashion guru Susannah Constantine has opened up about her recent diagnosis of hearing loss, describing it as an "indication" of her "rock 'n' roll past" while also admitting that the condition has left her feeling "isolated."
Speaking on ITV's Lorraine, the 61-year-old co-host of What Not To Wear revealed that she first started to realise she was losing her hearing when she no longer could distinguish the sounds of birds.
“There’s a huge amount of stigma around it (hearing loss), and I found that myself," Constantine confessed. "I began to notice this and I did not want to admit to myself that I might be going deaf.”
Recalling the impact of her hearing loss, she shared: “If I was sitting next door to someone, I couldn’t understand what the hell they were saying, and if they turned their back to me, and I couldn’t read their lips, I was stuck and I began to feel kind of isolated. I could see how frustrated other people were getting with me."
But it was her hobby of bird-watching that served as a turning point for Constantine. "The moment of truth came when I had this barrel which I sit in, in cold water – and I love listening to the birds – and I realized that I couldn’t actually differentiate between the different birds," she explained. "I pride myself on being a twitcher or whatever you call it."
Determined to seek help, Constantine turned to Boots Hearingcare, with whom she is now working. During her appearance on Lorraine, she proudly displayed her hearing aids to the camera, saying: "I’m so proud of them, they are rock 'n' roll. We all lose our hearing, and if we lived till we were 100, we’d all have loss of hearing. It’s just happening to be me a bit earlier, but I just think it’s an indication of my rock 'n' roll past and I am very proud of that."
Susannah Constantine, famous for her partnership with Trinny Woodall, is married to Danish entrepreneur Sten Bertelsen, and together they have three children. The fashion expert shot to fame with her TV series, What Not To Wear, and later appeared on Strictly Come Dancing in 2018. She also recently released her memoir, Ready For Absolutely Nothing, in 2022.
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