WHEN Nicola Adams turned 40 last October, it felt like a significant moment.
“I saw it as a big step in my whole existence and I approached it really positively,” she says.
“I’ve had friends who have taken their own lives, so I’m just happy that I’m here to get older, and that I’ve made it to the age I am in good health.
“I don’t actually feel any different to 20-year-old me! I’m still exactly the same, just a little bit wiser.”
And a little bit more confident, too.
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Nicola has a wealth of experience behind her across so many aspects of life and isn’t afraid to use any of it to speak up on the issues she feels strongly about.
“I do feel like I have more of a voice now. I can say what I think and what I feel, and people tend to sit up and listen.”
And so they should, because Nicola is a fighter in more ways than one.
She survived a deeply traumatic childhood and violent home life to become the first female boxer to win an Olympic gold medal in 2012, changing the face of the sport and inspiring a generation of young girls behind her.
She followed that up four years later with another win in Rio, making her the first female boxer to retain an Olympic title – and she’s been a trailblazer outside the ring, too.
In 2020, she was the first celebrity to compete in Strictly Come Dancing as part of a same-sex couple, she is also about to launch a boxing programme with The Prince’s Trust, plus she is an advocate for women in sport and we are proud to have her on the cover of Fabulous for our International Women’s Day Issue.
“It’s really inspirational for me as well,” she says of the shoot. “I guess it’s a symbol of everything I’ve achieved in my career and continue to achieve as a woman.”
Nicola is also one of the panel chaired by Vanessa Feltz at our IWD I Am Fabulous event on Tuesday, along with Kate Ferdinand and Ellie Simmonds.
She says: “I’m a feminist. International Women’s Day is such an important date, where we can celebrate women and show everyone that things are possible in a world where we don’t always have those opportunities.”
There is, she says, a long way to go and as an openly gay black woman, Nicola perhaps recognises this more than most. Recently, she posted a video on TikTok with her influencer partner Ella Baig, 24, where the tone was light-hearted, but the underlying message about being unable, as a lesbian couple, to show each other affection in public without it being sexualised by men was entirely serious.
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“Women are always being sexualised – it’s part of our everyday life as females,” she says.
“Whether it’s what we’re wearing or the wolf-whistling in the street. There’s just so much that needs to be done.
“Last year, I did a video where I asked what women would do if there were no men in the world for one day, and the responses shocked me.
"Women were saying they’d feel able to go and walk their dog outside at night.
“It sounds like such a little thing, but women can’t do that without the fear of being assaulted and that’s just so sad.”
Nicola first became aware of sexism and the battles that lay ahead when she started boxing at the age of 12.
Her mum Dee, 62, hadn’t been able to find a babysitter and so took Nicola and younger brother Kurtis to the gym with her.
While she attended her aerobics class, Nicola and Kurtis took part in a children’s boxing class, and Nicola quickly fell in love with the sport.
There were no other girls in the class and when Nicola told people her dream was to become the first female Olympic boxing champ, it was met with derision.
“As a kid, you believe you can do anything. I just wasn’t aware of the barriers that stop women achieving in the same way as men.
"So it was an eye-opener. Everybody thought I’d lost my mind, as back then women’s boxing wasn’t an Olympic sport.
“I had to believe in myself, because there were so many people who told me I couldn’t do it. There was no funding for women’s boxing, for a start.
"I’d also get the comments about women belonging in the kitchen or why don’t I get out of the ring and play tennis instead. I got: ‘You’re too pretty to box,’ and all that kind of stuff from other boxers, supporters and coaches.
“I still can’t wrap my mind around why it was such a big deal. If I’d listened to all those people, I’d never be where I am today.
"In the end, it just gave me more fuel for my fire. It made me want to fight even harder to break down those barriers.”
After years of literal blood, sweat and tears to fund herself through competitions, Nicola went on to win that historic Olympic gold at London 2012 and transformed the sport for women in the UK.
“I busted through the ceiling,” she says.
After securing her second Olympic gold in Rio and having seen the amateur sport make huge strides in terms of funding and coverage, she was eager for a new challenge.
She turned pro in 2017, but was shocked to discover the extent of the inequalities on that side of the fence, and so used her considerable clout to make changes there as well.
“While women in the amateur world were now on the same playing field, that wasn’t the case for professionals.
"They weren’t getting paid anything like as much as their male counterparts and I wanted to use my name and profile to change that.
“I was able to say: ‘Right, let’s get women up there on really big cards, the really big events,’ and because I was getting paid the amount I was, it meant the pay level of the other women was raised as well.
“Women’s boxing has come a long way from when I first started, but there’s some distance to go still. I’d like to see women boxing three-minute rounds [instead of two], the same as men, and to have the same number of rounds as well. I don’t understand why we’re different.”
Do the shorter rounds perpetuate a myth that women aren’t as capable as men?
“Yes, that’s it. I’d love to see the science which says why women can only box for two minutes. But hey, it’s breaking down slowly but surely.”
Nicola retired undefeated in 2019. By then, she’d met Ella and felt ready to start a new life away from competitive sport.
“I love everything about Ella, she brings out the best in me. She’s such a kind-hearted and loving person. I love how she’s fun and doesn’t take herself too seriously.”
The two met outside a nightclub when Nicola was posing for photos with fans and Ella didn’t have a clue who she was.
That, for Nicola, was part of the attraction.
“Whenever you meet someone, you never know what their true intention is.
"I’d question if they just wanted to date me as I’m famous. So it was nice that she had no idea; it meant she could get to know me for me.”
Both Nicola and Ella wanted a family together and, two years into their relationship, they embarked on what was to be an emotionally fraught IVF journey.
Using embryos made with Nicola’s eggs and donor sperm, Ella suffered one unsuccessful round of IVF, followed by a miscarriage at eight weeks.
Their third round of IVF was successful, although baby Taylor was born a month early, last July.
Nicola was hesitant about going public with their story, but Ella felt it should be shared.
Last autumn, they took part in an ITVBe documentary that explored the financial and emotional pressures that often come with IVF.
Nicola says: “I wasn’t sure about sharing it publicly because we’d already been through quite a lot with the first couple of tries.
"But Ella wanted to shine a light on what the journey is like.
“You’re almost left to fend for yourself with IVF, from finding a doctor to trusting the clinic is doing everything right, and you hope that it turns out gloriously.
"But the reality isn’t like that and we wanted to talk about that and also break the stigma because IVF is very personal and very stressful and a lot of people don’t feel able to talk about it.
“I guess it’s generally thought that women are supposed to be able to give birth – that’s their one job and if they can’t do it then something’s wrong.
"But we shouldn’t think like that any more. It’s such a beautiful thing that science has advanced so much – IVF should be celebrated, not hidden away in the dark.”
The gruelling process hasn’t put either of them off trying again.
In fact, Nicola says there are plans for lots more babies.
“We’ll definitely go through it again. In a way, it was trial and error and we’re with a different clinic now where the process was so much smoother and easier.
"We want a big family, so we’ll be trying again. Having Taylor has brought us even closer together and shown us that we work even better as a team.”
With his Olympic-gold-winning genes, it’s no surprise to learn that seven-month-old Taylor is already exceeding developmental milestones.
“He hasn’t even bothered with crawling,” says Nicola. “He’s just trying to go straight to walking, so he’s definitely keeping us both on our toes! The first few months of broken sleep patterns were tough.
"And when you first take a newborn home and it dawns on you that this is your human and you’re totally responsible for him, that’s quite a big shock!
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“I remember almost waiting for somebody to take him away again, but no – this is all on you. He’s sleeping through the night now, and once we were in a routine everything seemed to get a little bit easier.
“Now he’s older, we’re seeing a lot more of his personality – he’s so smiley and happy and he really knows what he wants.”
Retirement hasn’t dulled any of Nicola’s ambition. She’s taking acting lessons with a coach and hopes to star in Marvel-type films.
She’s also preparing for her first live show, An Evening With Nicola Adams, which will debut in her hometown of Leeds in May.
“I’m the type of person who is always working towards my next goal, so I have something to look forward to.
"It meant I never got into that slump of having stopped competing and not knowing what to do next.
“I was excited to be able to do the things I wasn’t able to while I was an athlete, from attending parties to going to my friends’ weddings and their babies’ christenings.
"I was so busy with training, but now I feel like I’m actually living my life and I’m enjoying it!”
Last week, Nicola’s work with The Prince’s Trust saw her named a Goodwill Ambassador, and she is launching her own boxing programme with the youth charity, which will introduce disadvantaged young people to the sport, while building their self-confidence and skills for work.
Get Started Boxing with Nicola Adams, which is a mix of practical and theory classes and will run from locations in London and Leeds, came out of a direct conversation she had with King Charles himself.
“I’ve met him a few times now and he’s really nice. I like how passionate he is about The Prince’s Trust, and it was at the awards that I was talking to him about boxing and how I wanted to start a class. That’s how everything started,” she says.
“I’m so proud because it gives me a chance to really help the next generation who are going through so many struggles, especially after Covid.
“Boxing is about more than sport. It can give you confidence, discipline, focus and determination – it’s helped me in so many ways and I want to give back.”
Ask Nicola who her female role models are and she says Serena Williams and Ellen DeGeneres.
There are plenty of women who would name Nicola as theirs.
“I will always, always fight for equality, not just in boxing, but in everything,” she says.
“Women deserve the same opportunities as men, but the push for equality feels like the hardest of battles.
“In 2023, we should be so far past all of this and the fact we’re still having to talk about equal pay, harassment and the fight for women’s rights blows my mind.”
- Tickets for An Evening With Nicola Adams on May 10, 2023 are on sale now at Fane.co.uk.
