There is a perfectly golden gruyère puff pastry sitting on Adwoa Aboah’s plate, its buttery scent wafting temptingly in the air. When we first arrived at Don’t Tell Dad, a buzzy bakery-restaurant in north-west London, Aboah announced to no one in particular, “I’m starving.” Yet 20 minutes later her food remains untouched.
For a model, the image might conjure a familiar fashion-world tableau: the artful performance of eating without actually indulging. Aboah, who has worked for Burberry, Miu Miu, Dior and Fendi, is also the founder of the hit podcast Gurls Talk – which advocates for female mental health – and an actor, seen first in Top Boy and, this summer, Netflix’s romcom series Too Much. She has 1.8mn Instagram followers. So you’d be forgiven for assuming she has fallen victim to the pressure of keeping up (physical) appearances. But that would be a misread. Aboah isn’t avoiding food – she simply hasn’t paused long enough to take a bite.
She has returned to modelling following the birth of her first child. “I’m self-employed and I’ve got bills to pay,” she chuckles in a low throaty voice that lends her an unexpected gravitas. She is also in the midst of launching another venture, a fashion line. There is no time to stop.
