EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW AND PHOTOS
MELANIE SYKES
OPENING UP ABOUT HER SURPRISE DIAGNOSIS, TV HOST
IS ON A MISSION TO EMPOWER WOMEN AS SHE CELEBRATES HER AUTISM AND TELLS WHY RAISING HER SONS IS HER ‘ULTIMATE JOB’
Looking back, Melanie recalls moments where her reactions were connected to her autism, including when she was a contestant on game show The Chase
(LEFT) DRESS: ALIGNE. VINTAGE EARRINGS: PICCADILLY VAULTS. (RIGHT) DRESS: MATTHEW WILLIAMSON VIA MARY’S LIVING & GIVING FOR SAVE THE CHILDREN. SHOES: JIMMY CHOO VIA COW VINTAGE. RECYCLED EARRINGS: LOVENESS LEE
She was diagnosed with autism just a few weeks ago, but TV presenter Melanie Sykes tells hello! that she has greeted the revelation with a sense of relief, not dismay.
“It’s fantastic, that’s why I’m celebrating it,” she says as she showcases an array of sustainable fashion pieces in our exclusive photoshoot. “I’ve always felt different to other people and how they think and operate, but now I know it’s because I’m autistic it makes me feel validated.”
Melanie, whose 17-year-old son Tino also has the condition, which affects the way people communicate and interact, tells how she’s always felt different. “I tried to work out what it was about me and even put it down to things like my Northern directness,” says the Lancashire-born mum-of-two, who first shot to fame as the face of the Boddingtons beer adverts, pulling pints from an ice-cream van in the late 1990s.
FEELING OUT OF PLACE
“I’ve been in the entertainment industry for years, but it felt alien to me as I don’t do fluff and small talk or say anything for effect,” continues Melanie, who went on to copresent chat shows such as Today with Des and Mel and Let’s Do Lunch with Gino & Mel, and took part in 2014’s I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!, finishing in third place.