Ellie Simmonds interview: ‘I think about the negative comments I got on Strictly a lot’
This year Ellie Simmonds has been relishing every chance to show off her post-pool style, from the Bafta red carpet to Celebrity Gogglebox, and the Channel 4 Paralympics presenting couch. Much of the time – and for much of her 29 years – her clothes have shared the same tailoring secret: her mum, Val.
At 4ft, five-time gold Paralympian swimmer Simmonds has spent her life unable to pick a piece of clothing off a rack without the need for reams of alterations. But that has changed this week following the launch of DEWEY, the world’s first label for women under 5ft. Fronted by Simmonds, designed by Chamiah Dewey (who is 5ft 2in) and with Chris Savva (co-founder of Nobody’s Child) as CEO, it has appeared in Selfridges to coincide with the start of London Fashion Week.
It’s a bold statement, as label launches go. But Simmonds, who was born with achondroplasia, a form of dwarfism, is intent on “bringing long-overdue representation to fashion… there’s a massive gap in the market for this.” The initial drop has 16 womens’ athleisure pieces and six unisex styles; a menswear range is planned for next year.
Simmonds says that we are living in a “powerful time,” when it comes to conversations around disability and visibility – one that would have been unthinkable while she was growing up in the West Midlands. With size 2-3 feet, her only choice of footwear were children’s styles which “had butterflies or sparkles, or [were] light-up shoes. You don’t want to be wearing those as a teenager.”
This was even more galling given that Simmonds “love[s] fashion; I absolutely love getting dressed up.” She returned from presenting duties in Paris less than 72 hours before we speak; had she not been ill (she is loath to turn her camera on lest I see her “really red” nose and sea of tissues), she would likely be sporting the bright colours and simple silhouettes that have come to characterise her style.
“I loved my outfit for the Baftas, I felt really confident in that,” she says of the white feather-trimmed dress that landed her on the Telegraph’s best-dressed list. “I’m turning 30 this year – as you get older, you know what works best for your body, and what you feel comfortable in.”
More recently, though, there have been wobbles. Simmonds was 13 and Team GB’s youngest member when she won two gold medals in Beijing in 2008, picking up another two in London four years later, and a fifth at the Rio Games in 2016 (plus a silver and two bronzes over the course of her career). But since retiring following the Tokyo Paralympics in 2021, leaving her nine weekly pool sessions plus three gym visits behind, she has been more prone to self-doubt. “I was an athlete for so long, from the age of 12, when my first World Championships was, until when I retired when I was 26; all I’ve known is pushing my body to its limits, and exercise was my job.” Now, she has come to realise that “my body, unless I push it… it’ll never be what it used to be”.
Without that mandatory rigour built into her routine, the “typical” female self-criticism of how she looks has set in. “[I’m] aware that my body is changing, and sometimes, yes, I feel down about it,” Simmonds says of her off-days. She is “not much of a fan” of her legs now, and is “very, very conscious of my arms at the moment,” she admits.
Even so, she went sleeveless while presenting at the Games this summer. “I thought to myself, if I can wear it and try and put a smile on my face then maybe someone watching at home [will be] thinking: ‘Oh, Ellie’s got her arms on show, maybe I can.’” Her insecurities are often tempered by her desire to encourage those watching. “Sometimes I try and stand tall, and be OK.”
The physical changes are among many to have surfaced since she gave up competing professionally. In 2023, she split with her boyfriend of two years; this latter period of her twenties has centred on learning who she is without the pool. “For so long my identity was swimming,” she muses, voice thick with cold. “You know when you’re a good swimmer because you get the medals, you’ve got that substance, you’ve got that thing to show that actually you’re good at something – and all of a sudden that goes.”
Simmonds, who was awarded an OBE in 2013, calls this her “next chapter of life” – in many ways, she is starting from the bottom again. Still in May, Simmonds 2.0 got a serious boost when she won a Bafta for Finding My Secret Family. She had always known she was adopted – she is her parents’ fifth adoptive child, along with the many they would continue to foster during her upbringing. But she wondered about her birth family, having fantasised at points that her biological mother might be a rockstar.
So when the opportunity to dig into her past arose via the documentary, she grabbed it, learning during the process that her birth mother had been given a “fact sheet” about children with achondroplasia, detailing how they were “stupid”, and had traditionally found work in “the circus.” The pair ended up meeting for the first time in February last year; she also traced her biological father and sister, though Simmonds “can’t say” how her relationship with any of them stands now.
Simmonds has always kept her private life out of the public eye (aside from fleeting shots of her ex-partner in the audience at Strictly Come Dancing when she competed two years ago). Did she hesitate about bringing such a sensitive subject to light? “I felt a great role and responsibility,” she says of becoming a spokesperson for the challenges of adopting children with disabilities. Though she feels things have improved significantly, “in society there’s still a massive gap in education”. I suggest that it’s a lot to carry, being the face of a cause that is so important yet little-discussed, but Simmonds sees it as an “incredible honour… if I can help change and help make someone else’s life better then I’ll continue to do it for as long as I can.”
That applies to sport, too. In May, she spoke about the “climate of fear” created within British Para-swimming by one of her coaches during the Rio Games, who she said tried to control her life outside the pool and routinely checked her weight. Following an inquiry in 2017, he left the team (though Simmonds notes he is still coaching internationally, including at this year’s Paralympics). “There’s always those nerve-wracking feelings [about speaking out]; again you never know the impact that it’s going to have on you and your career. But also I felt there was a big responsibility to finally stand up to him, and not to let him get away with what he did.”
Her experience echoes allegations made against professional dancers at Strictly, several of whom have been jettisoned over accusations that they “bullied” their charges. When I ask whether there was any strife within the sequins during her time on the show in 2022, Simmonds says that she “loved all the training” (though “my favourite bit was the fake tan, the hair, the makeup, the costumes”), and that “I’ve made some best friends from it”, including BBC broadcaster Richie Anderson, with whom she appears on Celebrity Gogglebox.
She scored well until her exit in the sixth week, bolstered by the positive social media messages she received along the way. But trolls piped up too, writing insults including “‘how’s the dwarf going to dance?’ It’s sad and it does get to you,” she said at the time. In spite of their being in the minority, it is “those couple of negative [comments] you always cling to and think about. I think it’s probably being a woman, and being human,” she says of her propensity to ruminate on the bad. “I definitely think about those negative comments a lot.”
Simmonds adds that she is “lucky” to have an unfailing support system in her family and friends; she will spend her 30th in November in Australia for her best friend’s wedding (the beach is her “happy place”). Down the line, she is hopeful of beginning a family of her own, “if circumstances align”.
“I’ve always had that idea throughout my life that I would definitely love to give back and to maybe foster or even adopt in the future,” she says.
But for now, about to set off for another TV gig (armed with a lot of tissues), she is content with goals closer in sight, and “enjoying every single thing” that comes her way. “I’m just so focused on my career, travelling, and getting a dog.”
DEWEY is available in store and online at selfridges.com