Becoming a mother has changed my life: sexiness is not just about nipples and bikinis, says Emily Atack

SHE just stripped off for the raunchy TV series Rivals, and now Emily Atack thinks it’s time we all started celebrating sexiness.

The pin-up of the former boyswho plays a game of tennis naked in the Jilly Cooper-inspired show, says she is tired of the idea that women are “either sexy and gorgeous, or funny and smart” – but “it can’t be both”.

5

5

5

New mother Emily, 34, said: “You can be both, and celebrating sexiness doesn’t have to be this seedy, horrible thing.

“You can celebrate sexiness in a very powerful, uplifting, positive way without being perverted.

“It’s like appreciating a sexy woman, and sexiness shouldn’t just be about wearing a bikini.

“It’s about who you are as a person and being nice, kind and funny.

“We’ve been fed the message that sexiness just means nipples through your shirt and in your pants, with no cellulite on your butt.

“The sexiest thing in the world has to be being able to, I don’t know, have a child growing up inside you and then having the scars to prove it and say, ‘I did this, I’m gone ‘. *** boss bitch’.

‘Like, that’s sexy. And the confidence to be able to do that and the confidence to be a mother and still go out and still work and feel confident and sexy in yourself – that’s sexy.

“It’s just that we’ve been drip-fed all our lives thinking about what sexiness means.”

‘Bapt out’

The former Inbetweeners actress plays the fiercely ambitious Sarah Stratton in eight-part drama Rivals, currently streaming on Disney+.

Her tough 80s character is determined to reach the top at the cutthroat, fictional TV channel Corinium, where she works as a presenter.

She has little trouble flirting with the power-hungry boss, Lord Tony Baddingham, played by David Tennantor stripping down to her underwear to seduce married co-star James Vereker, played by Oliver Chris.

And in one scene, Sarah is caught in a game of naked tennis with her lover, ladies’ man and Tory MP Rupert Campbell-Black, played by Alex Hassell, in the grounds of his sprawling Cotswolds estate.

Emily says that when the writers sent her the script, she was “really” more concerned about learning how to play tennis than about being a fan.

She told the Great Company podcast: “I will run around the tennis court with my baps as long as they let me do that.

“I take one after another until it’s right, because it’s an integral part of the story. It’s such an important scene.”

born in Luton Emily – who is the daughter of actress Kate Robbins and musician Keith Atack, and the musician’s first cousin twice removed Paul McCartney – became famous at the age of 17 as a sweet girl next door Charlotte in The Inbetweeners.

The sexiest thing in the world has to be that you can, I don’t know, grow a child inside you and then, afterwards, have the scars to prove it and say, ‘I did this, I’m done* * *ing boss bitch’

Emily Atak

She regularly posed for boys’ magazines such as FHM and says she became upset when she was accused of ‘flaunting’ her figure early in her career.

Emily said: “It was confusing because I loved doing those photoshoots, for example FHM. I was so proud of that.

“And I would go to those photo shoots and have the best day. My mother would come with me, I would have a delicious lunch.

“I worked with all these amazing photographers and had these lovely people around me – the best. Honestly, those shoots were so much fun.

“Some people didn’t have great experiences.

“But I can only speak from personal experience. I was so happy, living my best life, celebrating my youth, my body, because I will never look like that again. I enjoyed celebrating that.

I was so happy, living my best life, celebrating my youth, my body, because I will never look like that again. I enjoyed celebrating that

Emily Atak

“At that time that was the most normal thing in the world. A show comes out, you promote your work, you take off your gear and you make a front page for FHM – and that was fine with me.

Emily continued to participate Dancing on ice appearing in 2010 alongside actors Harvey Keitel And Gabriel Byrne in the 2017 British film Lies We Tell, coming in second I’m a celebrity in 2018.

But in her personal life, Emily said last year she was struggling with loneliness and being single, and she cried herself to sleep.

That all changed when she fell in love with a nuclear scientist Dr. Alistair Garner, 39.

She had known him most of her life, but they only started dating last year.

Now she and ‘Al’ have a four-month-old son, Barney.

5

5

When asked what she looks for in a man, Emily said: ‘There are two types of people in life.

“There’s the partner who comes in and tries to wake you up and rustles around and bangs things and bangs drawers, saying, ‘You’re going to get up now, you’re going to get up now.’

“Or you have the partner who just lets you sleep until 11 a.m. and says, ‘Go back to sleep,’ and that’s the person you have to stay with.”

Emily, who this week revealed what she was struggling with breastfeedingloved being pregnant.

But the actress, who presented last year BBC Two documentary Asking for It?about sexual consent, noticed that men treated her differently while she was pregnant.

She said: ‘I can tell you that when you are pregnant, you will no longer be whistled at. You are completely desexualized.”

Pressure to stay slim

After birthEmily revealed that she felt pressure to get her body back into shape.

She said: “You come home and the first thing people say to you is: ‘When are you going to the gym again?’. What do you mean, when am I going to go to the gym again? I just created a human. Why would I put myself through the gym now?

Emily gained weight after her son was born, mainly because, she says, she could compete Brain if the topic was ‘North London takeaways’.

She reveals that she just wanted to be the best mother possible – and be praised for it – instead of training.

And she emphasizes that it is essential to have a Chinese takeaway without “feeling like a terrible slob” the next morning, or torturing yourself for not constantly counting calories.

It wasn’t until Emily started working in television that she felt the pressure to stay slim.

I’ve always had such a healthy relationship with food that I’ve never had a problem with it. When I got the part of Charlotte in The Inbetweeners, everyone started commenting on my weight

Emily Atak

Even as a slim size eight, she was described as ‘curvy’ by online trolls.

She said: ‘I’ve always had such a healthy relationship with food that I’ve never had any problems with it.

“When I got the part of Charlotte in The Inbetweeners, everyone started commenting on my weight.

“I remember there was a whole Facebook page dedicated to me – to Charlotte – but I just couldn’t believe how awful it was.

“People talk about my weight and say, ‘At least we see curvy girls playing sexier roles on TV now’. People said I was sexy and beautiful, but some people said I was fat and ugly. It’s so confusing, because I thought, ‘I don’t really know who I am anymore!’.”

Fortunately, that confusion is now gone and she is just happy to be herself.