Boxer Nicola Adams is arguably one of Britain’s most famous - and most decorated - female athletes, with two Olympic gold medals under her belt at London 2012 and Rio 2016. She retired in 2019 with an undefeated record and held the World Boxing Organisation female flyweight title in the same year. But Nicola is also one of the UK’s most high-profile queer women and an outspoken advocate and activist for LGBTQIA+ rights. As we celebrate Pride this June - and look ahead to this summer’s Olympics in Paris - we caught up with Nicola Adams at GLAMOUR HQ to discuss Olympic medals, feminism and becoming a mother, after welcoming son, Taylor with her partner, Ella Baig in July 2022, “motherhood has taught me that I have way more patience than I ever thought I would have,” she says.

We also spoke with her to launch the first of our Beauty of Pride Beauty Memo video series, where we speak to an LGBTQIA+ female celebrity every week of the month of June to discuss how beauty and make up has informed and helped shape their journey to who they are today.

It's obviously the Olympics this year. How do you feel now looking back on your own Olympic record and why was it so important at that time when you first won Gold?

Looking back at my Olympic record and how well I did and what I achieved, and then going to the Olympics in Paris and seeing all the other boxers competing now makes me feel really happy inside, knowing that I was able to help pave the way for future Olympians to go and get the gold medals.

In the Olympics in London 2012, it was really important for women's boxing because it was the first time that women's boxing had ever been featured in an Olympic Games. So because I won gold at the Olympics in London 2012, I was able to create history and create a path for other girls to follow in my footsteps. And hopefully, we'll have some more gold medals in Paris.

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As we celebrate Pride month this June, what changes have you seen as a gay woman in boxing?

Watching sport evolve as a gay woman and as part of the LGBTQ+ community, I've seen so many more athletes be able to be themselves and come out and be proud, especially in the Olympics. I think in London 2012 there was only me, I don't even think Tom Daley was out yet, so it's definitely moved on a long way and it's great to see.

You very much use your platform to champion LGBTQ+ rights. How important is it to you to be an advocate and be outspoken?

I really enjoy being able to represent the LGBTQ+ community in the way that I have just because of the representation. I feel that if you can't necessarily see somebody who's like you, you don't always know that it's achievable for yourself.

Is there a standout moment from your career where you haven't perhaps had the self-confidence or self-belief in yourself and you've had to really go that extra mile and pick yourself up and get yourself together?

In 2009, I had a really serious back injury that meant I was out of boxing, out of everything for a whole year, and I was bed-bound for three months. Basically, what happened was I was getting ready for a competition and I left my bandages hanging out of my bag. And I went rushing down the stairs because I was late and tripped over the bandages and fell and fractured the vertebrae in my spine. It was the hardest thing that I've ever had to deal with, both mentally and physically. Not being able to do the one thing that I loved doing, which was boxing, was the most difficult thing I've ever done.

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And how I actually got through that hard time was by goal setting, which is when I really, really went about it, and my goals were really small at first. One of my first goals was just to be able to walk 50 metres without being in pain and being able to tick off the small goals to get to my big goal, which was the Olympic Games, it just really gave me a lot more drive and motivation to be able to see that I was improving because it's very hard to be able to see that when you've gone from not being able to lift your shoulders off on the floor and having to roll over to stand up. It was such a difficult time.

Amazing, well done for getting through it. Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you felt you were being held back or discriminated against? And if so, how did you overcome it?

Yeah. Through my career, being a female boxer, I've been discriminated against in so many different ways. I was told that women weren't allowed to box. Why don't we take up tennis? Women belong in the kitchen etc. [I’m] too pretty to do boxing. I received all those stereotypical comments and I still wanted to push on. I still wanted to be a boxer. I still wanted to change minds about women's boxing because I believe women should be able to do whatever sport or whatever job or whatever career they're pleased to do. There shouldn't be any limits.

So, on that note, what does feminism mean to you?

Feminism means, to me, equal opportunity. I believe that women should be able to do whatever they feel, whatever they choose in life, and they shouldn't be held back by anybody, especially by other people's mindsets. I believe that when people say things sometimes like, "You can't do that," they've got one finger pointing at you and they've got three fingers pointing back at them, and that's because they feel that they can't do it so they think that you can't do it. And you've just got to be strong enough mentally to not let that affect you and still go with your dreams and your goals. Yeah, just don't let other people's opinions deter you in any way.

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And when do you feel most empowered?

I feel most empowered when I'm in the gym working out or in the boxing ring because that's my zone.

You became a mother a couple of years ago, welcoming the gorgeous Taylor. What were the biggest challenges that you faced?

Yeah. My biggest challenge welcoming Taylor into the world was not really knowing what to do. You're told all this different information at the hospital, how to change a nappy, how to do all this stuff, how to check for things, and then you're just like, "Right." They just let you go. And there was a part of me that was like, "Oh my God. I'm responsible now for this human and I have to bring them up," and that, for me, was the most terrifying moment of my life.

What challenges did you face on the journey to becoming a mother with the IVF journey?

The challenges that I faced on our IVF journey was that it's very up and down. You don't know whether it's going to work the first time, whether it's going to work the second time, or whether it's going to work at all. And I think there's not enough information out there. It's only 50% likely that it will work every time that it's done. It's a very long road, but we managed to get there in the end. I guess anybody that's planning on doing IVF or wondering about the journey, definitely do research and speak to lots of different doctors. Don't be afraid to talk to people for support. I think support is a really important part. It's nice to be able to have somebody to talk about your journey to.

And finally, what has motherhood taught you about yourself?

Motherhood has taught me that I have way more patience than I ever thought I would have. And I guess, for me, it's just seeing those little moments. Seeing Taylor smile, seeing him do something new that he hasn't done before, it's just taught me, I guess, that there's so much more to look at in life.

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