Approaching her 40th birthday, Estelle Keeber wasn’t feeling her best.
A single mum to two boys, she had recently lost her beloved nan and had just broken up with Chris, her fiancé of three years.
Knowing she needed something different to pick her up, she organised a week away in Spain with best pal Sarah for them to share an experience which she says has changed her life in ways she never dreamed possible.
Estelle, now 42, from Leicester, tells her story…
‘I guess I’d always been intrigued by the idea of nudist beaches, just letting everyone see you for what you are, no filters, no clothes, all your wobbly bits and scars on show.
‘I’d seen nudist beaches sporadically as a child and young adult, when on various Mediterranean holidays, but the first time I ever properly noticed and thought about them was five years ago.
‘I was in Spain with my boys – then aged 8 and 6 – and seeing those men and women just so incredibly relaxed and happy, for some reason it resonated with me.
‘I didn’t want to shock my boys, and I’m not sure I was quite ready to strip off then, anyway, but that sowed a seed in my brain which, without me realising, grew and grew.
While Estelle says she’s ‘definitely not a naturist in the full-time sense’, she finds baring all ‘refreshing and good for [her] mental health’. LEFT: Estelle goes topless on the beach in Crete. RIGHT: Estelle strips naked in Spain
While holidaying in Spain, Estelle and Sarah decided to take the above photos ‘to keep as mementos’. LEFT: Estelle in the ‘mermaid’ pose lying over a rock. RIGHT: Estelle from behind, walking away from the camera
Approaching her 40th birthday, Estelle Keeber (pictured) wasn’t feeling her best, having lost her beloved nan and broken up with her fiance of three years, Chris
‘Having worked on social media for many years, I was all too aware of how increasingly everyone only wanted to present their “best” self, how potentially destructive this could be.
‘Of course, there are so many positives to social media, but I regularly gave talks to my team at my company about healthy social media experiences – with two children myself, I knew only too well how any fixation on how you looked could spiral into bad mental health, eating disorders, generally a focus on the wrong things in life.
‘I was genuinely worried about the world my boys would grow up in and wanted to do my bit to help redress that.
‘I guess I’d also got to a point where my “body confidence” – whatever that means – wasn’t great.
‘I’d suffered a horrific ectopic pregnancy after my eldest had been born, resulting in major surgery which almost killed me and left me with scars around my midriff. And, like all of us, my body wasn’t as firm and pert in the right places as it had been.
‘I wanted my children, and everyone, to see the real me without any sense of shame to balance the perspective that is all too often seen on smartphones.
‘A year after that trip to Spain, I was on holiday in Corfu with a friend and decided to go topless – like many of the other beach-goers – which was liberating, but not the full package.
‘Psychologically I felt there’d be something so different, so liberating, about baring all.
Estelle (left) and Sarah (right) are pictured in La Pineda, Spain, after Estelle says they ‘stripped off completely, laughing’ and running into the sea. ‘It was a complete rush,’ she adds
In the summer of 2022, in the run-up to her 40th, Estelle convinced her friend Sarah to book a trip to Spain to go skinny-dipping together. Above, the pals are pictured together in La Pineda, while on the holiday
Having gone skinny-dipping, Estelle and Sarah (pictured above in Spain) ‘spent the whole day – and most of that night – naked as the day we were born, chatting away and just so relaxed’
‘It was in the run-up to my 40th, in the summer of 2022, that I told my bestie, Sarah, my plan. The look on her face was priceless!
‘But after she managed to close her mouth and the penny dropped that I was being deadly serious, she said, “Hell yes, let’s do it!”, and we booked our flights to Spain.
‘It wasn’t as easy as we thought, though – after all, we’d spent all our lives living in ultra-conservative Britain, where naked bodies are sexualised or something to snigger at.
‘We sat on the sand, trying to build up confidence, and talked through our plan. Synchronised, we stripped off completely, laughing, and ran into the sea.
‘It was a complete rush! The feeling of the sea and wind rushing over your body was so energising and uplifting. I seriously never once imagined it could be this good.
‘Sarah agreed, and we spent the whole day – and most of that night – naked as the day we were born, chatting away and just so relaxed.
‘Skinny-dipping under the moon, it was the best birthday I’d ever had, and I knew then that I wanted this to be a regular part of my life. And I wanted to tell everyone – even my boys – about it.
‘It was an epiphany, like I’d found the answer to so many things that had been bugging me for so long.
Estelle snorkelling topless in Majorca, on her 41st birthday, where she found repeating the experience ‘lost none of its magic’. Right: Estelle goes topless on the beach in Crete
‘I also remembered my nan, Jill, who’d died a few months earlier. We’d been so incredibly close, she’d supported me with my boys, she’d been there for me through everything.
‘Her mantra had always been live life to the full, not to worry what anyone else thought of you. I know if she could’ve seen me, she’d have been hooting with laughter!
‘Sarah and I decided to take some, hopefully, tasteful photographs – me in the ‘mermaid’ pose lying over a rock, from behind, walking away – to keep as mementos.
‘I wanted something physical, unfiltered, and real to inspire others to do this too.
‘Back home I did just that, telling all my friends and family about my amazing experience, showing them the photos before they had a chance to recoil!
‘Of course, lots of people thought I was bonkers, but I just didn’t care. This was my way of being real, embracing my 40s in a healthy way. I was so proud of myself, and what I’d found.
Estelle now goes into schools to ‘talk about how to use social media healthily, plus the dangers and need to limit screen time’, as above
Above: Estelle protests ‘against Facebook’s policy of taking down photographs of post-cancer women who’ve had nipples tattooed on following breast surgery – dressed in a massive inflatable boob costume outside their London headquarters’
‘My boys, needless to say, were utterly mortified, and when they walked into my office at home, and those nude photos were on display on a vision board, they shouted at me to cover them up! It was perfect.
‘I posted about my experience on social media – I have almost 10,000 followers on Instagram – and was delighted with the torrent of positive comments! The best part was how intrigued lots of people were, how they got it, and – I hope – will give it a go, too.
‘I knew I couldn’t realistically do this at UK beaches – I’d be too cold, and there are hardly any nudist beaches – so I decided to save it up for my birthdays, a little treat to myself.
‘For my 41st I went to Majorca with a guy I was seeing then and repeated the experience, and it lost none of its magic.
‘I’m definitely not a naturist in the full-time sense, but these little breaks away, baring all, are so refreshing and good for my mental health.
‘I tell everyone I meet they have to try it before they dismiss it!
‘I’ve got more trips planned for my skinny-dipping adventures, and even a trip to a nudist spa near Birmingham soon.
‘Since my first nudist experience, I’ve refocused a lot of my work and life.
Estelle, above, says: ‘I just want to get the message out there that life is too short to be worried about how you look, what other people think. Strip off, get outside, be happy’
‘I’ve helped protest in a campaign against Facebook’s policy of taking down photographs of post-cancer women who’ve had nipples tattooed on following breast surgery – dressed in a massive inflatable boob costume outside their London headquarters.
‘Meta actually changed its algorithms as a result, which I’m so incredibly proud of.
‘I regularly go into schools to talk about how to use social media healthily, plus the dangers and need to limit screen time.
‘And I’ve recently been working with Liam Walsh, the dad of Mia who took her own life when she was just 13.
‘Mia had been watching self-harm TikTok videos before she died and had previously mentioned a social media game she’d been playing with others.
‘Liam was never allowed by the massive social media companies like Meta and ByteDance, to see what exactly she’d been viewing, but wished he’d known – and that those massive companies, which make billions of dollars in revenue each year, really did safeguard users and stop these needless deaths.
‘There will be countless more deaths like Mia’s unless we all understand these dangers and model as grown-ups and parents how to be “real”, to put our phones down and embrace life.
‘Right now, I just want to get the message out there that life is too short to be worried about how you look, what other people think. Strip off, get outside, be happy!’
Estelle is one of the UK’s leading Instagram experts, speakers and authors – www.instagram.com/estellekeeberofficial