Andi Oliver had a dramatic “role reversal” when she moved in with daughter Miquita, 38, for a period following a hysterectomy, admitting that her health woes forced her to surrender to being looked after. The 59-year-old chef needed some recovery time after the op, which took place after large fibroids were found in her womb – and she revealed all in the latest issue of Women’s Health UK.
The Great British Menu star explained that being passive didn’t come “naturally” to her, but that she had to adapt to letting her daughter play the role of mum.
“I’m an energetic person, but after surgery, I didn’t have the extra reserves to draw from,” she lamented during the interview.
“It was a lesson in surrendering: you have to respect the time recovery takes and be patient.”
The TV chef also admitted she’d said congratulations to her body for enduring such a traumatic operation.
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Her health concerns first arose when, in spite of exercising six times a week and enjoying a healthy lifestyle and diet, she still “felt s**t”.
After she was sent for an ultrasound scan to check all was well, a gynaecologist found no less than 10 fibroids in her womb.
“They were so large it was like I was five months pregnant,” she gasped.
Andi added: “I’ve since had a full hysterectomy.”
One of the most difficult aspects of recovering from the painful surgery was her inability to indulge in her favourite passion – cooking.
Andi recalled she was strictly forbidden from lifting anything heavy, so she missed out on her “usual rhythm”.
She was also momentarily unable to visit food markets in search of her favourite nibbles.
It’s a habit that she and her famous pal Neneh Cherry often indulged in back in the days when they were “broke single parents”.
They’d buy staple items like bags of potatoes for rock-bottom prices at their favourite markets, and then turn £15 into “meals to last for days”.
Andi first met Neneh, the daughter of jazz trumpeter Don Cherry, when the pair were teenagers – and Neneh has since gone on to enjoy a successful career as a solo artist.
At the time Neneh had been in the band Rip, Rig and Panic with Andi’s brother Sean – and then he drove into a lamp-post in Cambridge Circus.
He recovered, but then sadly died in 1990, aged just 27, owing to sickle cell anaemia.
The pair met at his bedside at Middlesex Hospital and, despite the unlikely setting, have been bosom buddies ever since.
“It was love at first sight,” Neneh reminisced later to the Independent, confiding: “It was like we had always known each other. Within minutes we were… Planning to make a record together.”
Andi joined the post-punk group Rip, Rig and Panic too – and also dabbled in Kalimba, an African inspired band.
However, she later realised her passion for cooking on screen – and back in 2007, the pair even got together for a six-part cookery series on BBC 2, titled Andi and Neneh Dish It Up.
Andi has taken a step back from her fast-paced career recently owing to the impact of her operation, but has vowed it isn’t the last viewers will see of her, having recently finished filming the next series of Great British Menu.
The full Andi Oliver interview can be read in the March issue of Women’s Health UK.
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