How acid attack trauma helped Katie Piper strengthen her faith in God

A voice in Katie Piper’s head told her not to give up after an acid attack that shattered her life and horrified the nation.

Bewildered Katie had stirred from a coma – bandaged, blinded in one eye and facing the awful realisation that she had been burnt beyond recognition.

Twelve long and challenging years later – and after 300 operations – Katie reveals how her faith helped her on a traumatic journey that would have broken most of us.

Katie also tells how religion has kept her positive during the pandemic, bonded her with loved ones and helped her reach out to others who have suffered tragedy.

The mother of two says it was “God’s calling” that she landed her latest job as a presenter on the BBC’s revered show Songs Of Praise.

And Katie, 36, smiles as she suggests her legions of Instagram followers may even bring the long-running BBC show a “cool” new audience.

She says: “Without sounding too clichéd, I do feel kind of for me it’s God’s plan and that’s something I’ve always believed in.

“It’s always nice when you get to do a job that you’re not just seeing it as a job, you’re passionate about it.

“Songs of Praise in my eyes has always been an institution, I remember it growing up.

“I will bring people – people that follow me on Instagram, people that might already have a faith or be interested in it that might not have actually tuned in. So I think that’s quite a good opportunity in that sense.

“Songs of Praise is a role that I would do for free because it’s something I care about.

“I am not out there to change every follower I have into a Christian but I would like to share the positive impact it’s had on my life and, without sounding clichéd, make it cool… not dismiss it as something that might be out of date or old fashioned and make it accessible.

“There’s nothing uncool about having faith, it’s nothing embarrassing. I am not embarrassed.

“What other people think of me is none of my business and I have grown up in my adult life with people trolling my appearance, saying negative things about me online, to my face, behind my back and I’ve learnt to disconnect and not seek the approval of strangers, it’s not valid.”

Katie joins a 10-strong team of Songs of Praise presenters including the likes of Aled Jones, the Rev Kate Bottley and Katherine Jenkins.

The flagship BBC1 show started in 1961 and is the longest-running religious TV programme in the world.

For her first assignment – on this afternoon’s harvest-themed edition – Katie travels to Carmarthenshire to meet Eileen Davis, an archdeacon who set up a helpline for farmers finding it hard to cope.

One of the farmers working for the group is semi-retired David Brooke.

In 2015 his wife Catherine took her own life after suffering for many years with her mental health.

During a poignant exchange with Katie, he said he had offered to be a listening ear to others, explaining: “When she died I reassessed my life and thought I would be a help to others.”

This struck a chord with Katie, who says she, too, has gone through a sense of healing through faith and helping others.

She goes on: “I had a respect for him. Something terrible happened to him and he’s obviously thought as a legacy to his wife how can I help others and ensure this doesn’t happen?

“Although he had suffered and had trauma he was able to be an optimistic person, he was resilient and genuinely was happy and he genuinely enjoyed helping other people.

“He wasn’t seeking a platform, we sought him out.

“And I bizarrely related to him and had something in common to him – and on paper what on earth do I have in common with a Welsh farmer?

“But that shows you, emotionally, we have a lot in common with people and faith does unite us.”

Songs of Praise aside, Hollywood could soon be knocking on her door after Katie sold the rights of her book to be made into a film.

She hopes American actress Reese Witherspoon, 44, might play her in the biopic of her life.

Katie adds: “I really love what Reese Witherspoon is doing because she has this great book club, has done these female empowerment films, is this amazing director and actress.

“So I admire her as a woman, as a mother and a businesswoman and what she represents.”

Katie has two daughters – Penelope, two, and Belle, six – and says the family listens to a lot of religious music at home in London and in the car.

She asked her husband Richard Sutton to take a Christian marriage course before their 2015 nuptials.

Katie also helps her children to recite the Lord’s Prayer at bedtime.

But, she reveals, just the two kids is a happy number for her and Richard.

She says: “We’ve just finished with all the nappies and feel we’ve got past that bit now!”

Besides, Katie has enough on her plate as a super-busy working mum – though the pandemic has allowed her to do more from home.

She is the face of Pantene, hosts a slot on ITV’s Lorraine show and in 2018 was a hit on Strictly Come Dancing, alongside pro star Gorka Marquez.

Katie also has a hit podcast called Extraordinary People. Stars like singer Matt Willis and actress Jacqueline Jossa have chatted to Katie about overcoming adversity.

And of her dream podcast interviewee, she says with a chuckle: “The Pope on Zoom! Never say never.”

That sense of humour and fun is evidence of how Katie handles a nightmare which unfolded back in 2008.

She was living in London and working as a model and presenter when a thug doused her in acid. Former boyfriend Daniel Lynch, 44, is serving a minimum 16-year life sentence for instigating the horror, while attacker Stefan Sylvestre, 32, was locked up for nine years before being released.

Yet with amazing resolve, Katie says the strength of her faith has helped her to heal and move forward.

And, thankfully, she has not found herself in the depths of despair which drag so many attack victims to a place of no return.

She explains: “I think for me that was so long ago, 12 years ago – I am a mum of two kids now. It’s very much not in my thoughts on a daily basis.

“I’ve never been in that place so I couldn’t relate to that. In 10 years of working with burns survivors [I have seen] many who have attempted suicide, many whose partners have attempted suicide because it’s been so stressful.”

Katie believes one flipside of lockdown is that people realise they cannot worry about everything.

She adds: “During Covid we actually are never in control – and we realise that and let go.

“That does make life less frightening and you don’t feel highly strung. So any kind of belief or faith can help you relax and practise acceptance I think.”

• Songs of Praise is on BBC1 at 1.15pm Sunday.

For more information about Katie’s work visit the Katie Piper Foundation .