Jodie Kidd has shared an insight into her new wholesome life in the countryside with her fiance Joseph Bates and 14-year-old son Indio in a recent interview. The supermodel, who rose to fame in her teens, stepped away from full-time modeling in the early 2000s after suffering severe panic attacks on the runway.
Now residing in West Sussex, Jodie leads a low-key, outdoorsy lifestyle. She tends to her own chickens, grows vegetables, and is the proud landlady of The Half Moon Kirdford pub. Reflecting on her anxiety struggles, she told OK! magazine that catwalks became 'triggering' for her. Since leaving the industry, she says she is 'loving life' in the country.
'I was exhausted, feverish, anxious. I'm a country girl, normally out baling hay and feeding animals, but suddenly I was in big cities not looking after myself, not eating well, not sleeping, just flying around the world,' she explained. 'I literally did not stop, then my body said, "I'm not doing this." I was at the height of my career with Chanel campaigns everywhere, but I was fried. One day I said, "I won't do another catwalk." I found it triggering.'
She added: 'So I moved to the countryside, started growing veg, riding horses again, and getting my nervous system back in order. I needed nature, trees, animals, my friends and family. Slowly I got better. I love the life I have now.'
This comes after Jodie's fiance Joseph Bates bravely opened up about his struggle with alcohol and his failed attempt to go sober last year. The former Royal Marine, 40, who has been engaged to the model since 2021, candidly discussed his relationship with drinking and the 'selfishness, self-doubt, and negative tendencies' that arise when he consumes alcohol.
Taking to Instagram, the entrepreneur wrote: 'I stopped drinking last year for nine months. I struggled with alcohol - not so much the amount I drank, but more with how it affected how I felt and how I treated others. Selfishness, self-doubt, and negative tendencies always crept in when alcohol was involved, so I decided to stop.'
After nine months of abstinence, Joseph tried reintroducing drinking last summer, believing he had 'changed.' He wrote: 'It had been long enough without it, so surely I had changed? Surely my monk-like thinking would never allow the regret fuel to take hold again. Oh dear. How wrong I was. After my sober lubricant renaissance, all the thoughts came flooding back. Negative self-worth and impostor syndrome ran through my veins, and I suddenly felt like I did years ago.'
He added: 'Alcohol is a medically proven progressive issue for those who experience detrimental thoughts and actions when consuming it - meaning you get worse at it the more you practice. That's f*cked up.'
Following that failed attempt, Joseph, who began dating Jodie in 2017 after meeting through a military charity, revealed he has now been sober since last summer. 'Since that so-called renaissance last summer, I haven't drunk again. Honestly, I needed to revisit it to fully understand my allergy to it. Drastic change only happens when you truly want it. So how is life now without the oops potion, memory eraser, and bad-decision fluid? F*cking incredible.'
The CEO of online therapy platform Halen described the transformative effects of sobriety, saying he had 'never felt so content across all aspects of my life - work, family, and everything else.' He added: 'It's not just the clarity of thought, but the clarity of awareness - the ability to witness the most beautiful things you'd previously miss because the chimp in your mind was going absolutely bat-s***. I'm writing this for anyone who has tried or wanted to kick alcohol but couldn't. Trust yourself. Trust the universe.'
Joseph proposed to Jodie during a romantic trip to Paris in 2021, though the couple have yet to marry. Former Top Gear star Jodie revealed the proposal came while she was soaking in the bath at their hotel. 'I thought he was bending down to chat, but suddenly he came out with it. I was a bit shocked.'
In 2024, Jodie admitted they had put wedding plans on hold due to busy schedules. She told OK!: 'Oh my god, it is going very slowly. Nothing is happening in the immediate future, not because I don't want it to, but I am just so busy. I think it would be too much trying to arrange a wedding right now. Hopefully next year.' The year before, she had said the venue and dressmaker were sorted - 'we've just got to actually get a date.'
The model was previously married to internet entrepreneur Aidan Butler for 18 months until 2007, and author David Blakeley for just four months in 2015. Jodie, who became owner of The Half Moon pub in Kirdford, West Sussex, in 2017, shares son Indio with her ex-partner, Argentinian polo player Andrea Vianini.
