Strictly Come Dancing presenter Claudia Winkleman has revealed her health battles, disclosing that a chronic eye condition has meant she was “never really” able to see her own face in the mirror. The 53-year-old celebrity, who is presenting the new series of The Celebrity Traitors, has had several operations in attempts to improve her vision.

The Traitors host has previously discussed “how blind” she is, having battled myopia, or short-sightedness, for years. Speaking on the How To Fail podcast last November, she said: “I’ve always had terrible eyesight, which goes back to the blurriness of the paintings I like and the blurriness of how I really like life to be. I’ve had a couple of operations since then because I was just banging into walls. But now I wear lenses or glasses or whatever.”

She added: “A lit candle and everything is just a bit fuzzy around the outside. I was born, I think, with minus 15, so I’ve never really been able to see my face. It’s all guesswork.

“But everything is ish, it’s just a vague idea, which is how I’d like to live. I don’t want to live in ‘perfect land’. I want to live in ‘fuzzy world’.

“If there’s perfect here – people who want things to look good and ordered and alphabetised and organised – and then there’s the other end, I’m past the other end. I like irregular and ramshackle and messy. Just look at the way I do my eye make-up. I’m not very good at neat.”

According to The Sun, the presenter confessed she has previously battled to read an autocue whilst hosting shows.

She also disclosed that her sight issues have evolved over the years as she transitioned from being short-sighted to long-sighted.

Back in 2021 she revealed: “I can’t even begin to tell you how blind I am. It’s embarrassing. I can’t read the autocue. My eyes have deteriorated so badly, I’m not meant to drive. I am doing the wrong job.”

During another chat on Gabby Logan’s podcast The Mid Point in December, Claudia explained: “I’ve had lens replacement. I’ve had so many operations on my eyes. I had a lens replacement in my left eye because my astigmatism was so bad. I was minus 16, but that was 14 years ago.

“Then I had a little fiddle with it, but because I was so short-sighted, by fixing it I’m now long-sighted, so I can’t really read anymore. I can with glasses-I’ve got plus 2.5-but I can’t read The Bee Sting with those glasses and that light.”