'My big regret in life is doing those lads' mags': The world according to Kirsty Gallacher

The TV presenter on taking off her clothes to advance her career, growing up with Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson and why everyone thinks she's an ice maiden

'I never felt comfortable and I turned a lot down but I wish I'd had the strength of character to refuse all of them. I remember just feeling completely embarrassed by the photos,' said Kirsty Gallacher
There are few people who would ever guess that underneath Kirsty Gallacher's model-perfect exterior beats the heart of a total sports geek. But the stunning presenter - who is married to rugby star Paul Sampson - was determined not follow in the footsteps of her golfer father, the Ryder Cup captain Bernard Gallacher.
She says: 'I was a tomboy and into every form of sport as a kid but I wanted to do something totally different, so I went to study fashion with a view to designing or being a fashion journalist - but that didn't quite work out.'
After starting out as a Sky Sports presenter, her good looks won her mainstream shows, such as Kirsty's Home Videos and Gladiators.
Now 35, she is returning to Sky Sports, alongside her close friend Georgie Thompson, and will co-host a new breakfast show called Good Morning Sports Fans.



'I was very young and I was advised that it was a good thing to do for my career'
My big regret in life is doing those lads' mags.

I was very young and I was advised that it was a good thing to do for my career. People forget but at the time it was a huge thing for any female presenter to do, careers were actually made on the back of it. I never felt comfortable and I turned a lot down but I wish I'd had the strength of character to refuse all of them. I remember just feeling completely embarrassed by the photos and I certainly never kept any examples. I'm very glad women are no longer under that pressure to take their clothes off to advance their careers.

I met the Queen but she didn't recognise me.

It was shortly after it was leaked that she watched Kirsty's Home Videos. I went to St James's Palace with Gaby Logan in 2003. It was very odd timing because there had been a huge story after a reporter had infiltrated the palace and revealed that she spent her time watching EastEnders and my show on TV. But what was funnier was that she clearly didn't have a clue who I was when we were introduced. She was told my name and there was not even the slightest glimmer of recognition. I did do a very good curtsey though.

I never wanted to be a sports presenter.

My dream was to be a fashion writer. I was very sporty at school, and sport was probably the thing I was best at, but my real passion was for fashion. I fell into sport by accident. I was at an event with my dad and met one of the bosses at Sky who persuaded me to work as a researcher. I started thinking it would just be temporary and then I never stopped. I did a few years of behind-the-scenes researching and running around before I was asked to present. By that time it seemed the right thing to do.

I grew up with Prince Andrew, Sarah Ferguson and Bruce Forsyth as part of the family scenery.

We lived in Wentworth and my dad was obviously well known as a golfer, and many celebrities play golf. Prince Andrew was a family friend and lived close by so we'd see a lot of him and Sarah. But Bruce Forsyth was just Uncle Bruce to me. I absolutely love him - he's an amazing guy. When I took over on Lorraine Kelly's show recently he called me up to say what a good job I'd done. He's such a sweet man.


'I am probably every man's ideal partner right now because I'm completely addicted to sport'
I was a Twitter virgin but now I can't stop.

I absolutely love it. It's the most amazing way to tap into a whole community of people while sitting on your sofa at home. The other night I was watching a Manchester United match and I was getting all worked up about decisions that were being made and who was being played and being replaced. I started tweeting and realised everyone else was too. It was a great way of venting fury, more fun than shouting at the television.

I was once chased by a gang of men in a car.

I left a friend's house and noticed that a car full of guys was following me. Whenever I went faster or turned a corner it just chased me. I called my husband and luckily he was able to call the police, jump into his car and meet me at a petrol station. They pulled back and watched us and then, luckily, they were caught by the police. I have no idea what they wanted - me, the car, or whatever. Again it was a lesson to be very wary, because we live in scary times.

It may sound a bit odd but I add a plant extract, chlorophyll, to my water.

Most water is full of hormones and acid, but at home we only drink clean water. We had a system put in by the nutritionist that takes all the rubbish out of the water. I use it to drink and to cook with and I know it's had a really positive effect on my health and my body. I also try to eat as much raw food and clean food as possible. I have had phases of following a very strict raw food and vegetable diet but I do absolutely love beef. My husband is a vegetarian and passionate about supergreens and I'll definitely be trying to follow one of his eating plans when I start on Sky Sports Breakfast. The worst thing you can possibly do is to eat nothing, then stuff yourself with coffee and pastries in the Green Room, which is always a big temptation.

I once turned down a date with a big American TV star.

Gil Gerard, who played Buck Rogers, was performing in a West End show and I got a letter from him saying he'd seen me on the television while he was over here and found out we had some mutual acquaintances and would I like to meet him for dinner? It was a terribly polite letter but I never met up with him. In fact, shamefully, I don't think I even replied.

We have to do something to tackle obesity in kids today.

I think Jamie Oliver has been an absolute inspiration to millions with what he has done for schools and school dinners but I'd like to do something that involves kids and sports. The idea that so many kids eat rubbish and sit on computers all day long appals me and getting them into sport is a major way of getting them off computers and leading healthier lives.

Everyone thinks I am an ice maiden.

It's an image I had for a long time. I think it was partly to do with the fact that I was uncomfortable with attention and also because I was never a ladette. I rarely went to night clubs or parties or was seen falling over on pavements in the early hours. My idea of a good night has always been having a lovely meal and a proper conversation.

I am probably every man's ideal partner right now because I'm completely addicted to sport.

I am a total sport sponge, watching listening and reading everything I possibly can. I've been away from sports presenting for years so I am just trying to completely absorb myself before I go back. I'm watching football, checking cricket scores and recording athletics to fill my brain up again so I'll be on top form when I go back.
My mother was car-jacked recently.It scares me to know people like that are out there. We are still in terrible shock about it. I was just dropping my son off at nursery school when I got a call from my sister telling me that something had happened. My mum had been out with a group of girlfriends to the cinema and for a meal. As she got back to her car, men with balaclavas and bats surrounded the car, dragged her out and pushed her to the ground. They would have run over her but she managed to roll out of the way as they drove away. No one wants to see their mother go through that. It makes me very angry.

'My big regret in life is doing those lads' mags': The world according to Kirsty Gallacher

The TV presenter on taking off her clothes to advance her career, growing up with Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson and why everyone thinks she's an ice maiden

'I never felt comfortable and I turned a lot down but I wish I'd had the strength of character to refuse all of them. I remember just feeling completely embarrassed by the photos,' said Kirsty Gallacher
There are few people who would ever guess that underneath Kirsty Gallacher's model-perfect exterior beats the heart of a total sports geek. But the stunning presenter - who is married to rugby star Paul Sampson - was determined not follow in the footsteps of her golfer father, the Ryder Cup captain Bernard Gallacher.
She says: 'I was a tomboy and into every form of sport as a kid but I wanted to do something totally different, so I went to study fashion with a view to designing or being a fashion journalist - but that didn't quite work out.'
After starting out as a Sky Sports presenter, her good looks won her mainstream shows, such as Kirsty's Home Videos and Gladiators.
Now 35, she is returning to Sky Sports, alongside her close friend Georgie Thompson, and will co-host a new breakfast show called Good Morning Sports Fans.



'I was very young and I was advised that it was a good thing to do for my career'
My big regret in life is doing those lads' mags.

I was very young and I was advised that it was a good thing to do for my career. People forget but at the time it was a huge thing for any female presenter to do, careers were actually made on the back of it. I never felt comfortable and I turned a lot down but I wish I'd had the strength of character to refuse all of them. I remember just feeling completely embarrassed by the photos and I certainly never kept any examples. I'm very glad women are no longer under that pressure to take their clothes off to advance their careers.

I met the Queen but she didn't recognise me.

It was shortly after it was leaked that she watched Kirsty's Home Videos. I went to St James's Palace with Gaby Logan in 2003. It was very odd timing because there had been a huge story after a reporter had infiltrated the palace and revealed that she spent her time watching EastEnders and my show on TV. But what was funnier was that she clearly didn't have a clue who I was when we were introduced. She was told my name and there was not even the slightest glimmer of recognition. I did do a very good curtsey though.

I never wanted to be a sports presenter.

My dream was to be a fashion writer. I was very sporty at school, and sport was probably the thing I was best at, but my real passion was for fashion. I fell into sport by accident. I was at an event with my dad and met one of the bosses at Sky who persuaded me to work as a researcher. I started thinking it would just be temporary and then I never stopped. I did a few years of behind-the-scenes researching and running around before I was asked to present. By that time it seemed the right thing to do.

I grew up with Prince Andrew, Sarah Ferguson and Bruce Forsyth as part of the family scenery.

We lived in Wentworth and my dad was obviously well known as a golfer, and many celebrities play golf. Prince Andrew was a family friend and lived close by so we'd see a lot of him and Sarah. But Bruce Forsyth was just Uncle Bruce to me. I absolutely love him - he's an amazing guy. When I took over on Lorraine Kelly's show recently he called me up to say what a good job I'd done. He's such a sweet man.


'I am probably every man's ideal partner right now because I'm completely addicted to sport'
I was a Twitter virgin but now I can't stop.

I absolutely love it. It's the most amazing way to tap into a whole community of people while sitting on your sofa at home. The other night I was watching a Manchester United match and I was getting all worked up about decisions that were being made and who was being played and being replaced. I started tweeting and realised everyone else was too. It was a great way of venting fury, more fun than shouting at the television.

I was once chased by a gang of men in a car.

I left a friend's house and noticed that a car full of guys was following me. Whenever I went faster or turned a corner it just chased me. I called my husband and luckily he was able to call the police, jump into his car and meet me at a petrol station. They pulled back and watched us and then, luckily, they were caught by the police. I have no idea what they wanted - me, the car, or whatever. Again it was a lesson to be very wary, because we live in scary times.

It may sound a bit odd but I add a plant extract, chlorophyll, to my water.

Most water is full of hormones and acid, but at home we only drink clean water. We had a system put in by the nutritionist that takes all the rubbish out of the water. I use it to drink and to cook with and I know it's had a really positive effect on my health and my body. I also try to eat as much raw food and clean food as possible. I have had phases of following a very strict raw food and vegetable diet but I do absolutely love beef. My husband is a vegetarian and passionate about supergreens and I'll definitely be trying to follow one of his eating plans when I start on Sky Sports Breakfast. The worst thing you can possibly do is to eat nothing, then stuff yourself with coffee and pastries in the Green Room, which is always a big temptation.

I once turned down a date with a big American TV star.

Gil Gerard, who played Buck Rogers, was performing in a West End show and I got a letter from him saying he'd seen me on the television while he was over here and found out we had some mutual acquaintances and would I like to meet him for dinner? It was a terribly polite letter but I never met up with him. In fact, shamefully, I don't think I even replied.

We have to do something to tackle obesity in kids today.

I think Jamie Oliver has been an absolute inspiration to millions with what he has done for schools and school dinners but I'd like to do something that involves kids and sports. The idea that so many kids eat rubbish and sit on computers all day long appals me and getting them into sport is a major way of getting them off computers and leading healthier lives.

Everyone thinks I am an ice maiden.

It's an image I had for a long time. I think it was partly to do with the fact that I was uncomfortable with attention and also because I was never a ladette. I rarely went to night clubs or parties or was seen falling over on pavements in the early hours. My idea of a good night has always been having a lovely meal and a proper conversation.

I am probably every man's ideal partner right now because I'm completely addicted to sport.

I am a total sport sponge, watching listening and reading everything I possibly can. I've been away from sports presenting for years so I am just trying to completely absorb myself before I go back. I'm watching football, checking cricket scores and recording athletics to fill my brain up again so I'll be on top form when I go back.
My mother was car-jacked recently.It scares me to know people like that are out there. We are still in terrible shock about it. I was just dropping my son off at nursery school when I got a call from my sister telling me that something had happened. My mum had been out with a group of girlfriends to the cinema and for a meal. As she got back to her car, men with balaclavas and bats surrounded the car, dragged her out and pushed her to the ground. They would have run over her but she managed to roll out of the way as they drove away. No one wants to see their mother go through that. It makes me very angry.

Scarlett Johansson’s Cinematic Legends Recreation

Showing off her playful nature, Scarlett Johansson partook in an intricate photo shoot for the June 2011 issue of W magazine.

The “Iron Man” actress paired up with famed photographer Tim Walker as she costumed up to recreate cinematic legends such as Sarah Bernhardt, Giulietta Masina, Buster Keaton and Marlene Dietrich.

No easy task, the numerous makeup/wardrobe changes ended up bringing the total shoot time to an impressive fourteen hours before both parties were satisfied with the results.

Explaining how the unusual photo spread came to be, Miss Johansson revealed, “We had just shot the Moet Chandon ad campaign together and we were sampling the product — excessively.”

Scarlett Johansson’s Cinematic Legends Recreation

Showing off her playful nature, Scarlett Johansson partook in an intricate photo shoot for the June 2011 issue of W magazine.

The “Iron Man” actress paired up with famed photographer Tim Walker as she costumed up to recreate cinematic legends such as Sarah Bernhardt, Giulietta Masina, Buster Keaton and Marlene Dietrich.

No easy task, the numerous makeup/wardrobe changes ended up bringing the total shoot time to an impressive fourteen hours before both parties were satisfied with the results.

Explaining how the unusual photo spread came to be, Miss Johansson revealed, “We had just shot the Moet Chandon ad campaign together and we were sampling the product — excessively.”

'I am an optimist. I think, as bad as life sometimes gets, there is so much to joy': Amanda Holden opens up

As she adds the starring role of Princess Fiona in Shrek the Musical to her already extensive CV, Amanda Holden tells Jane Gordon about her career ambitions, her nicknames for Simon Cowell, her anti-ageing secrets and how she found true love with her very own Prince Charming

'Although what happened is obviously horrifying, we can go on to have more children,' says Amanda Holden about her recent loss

The adjective most often used in association with Amanda Holden in the past few months in no way matches the woman sitting across the table from me. The 40-year-old actress has repeatedly been described as ‘tragic’, but today the words that come to mind are strong, good-natured and, most particularly, professional.
Before our interview – her first since the stillbirth of her son in February, seven months into her pregnancy – she has gamely posed for photographers (at one point stretched out across a grand piano in London’s Criterion Restaurant) in her role as the ‘face’ of the newly launched TrimSole toning shoes.
Now, nursing a skinny latte, she is expertly deflecting sensitive questions (of which more later) and, instead, gleefully talking about everything from the horror of baring her feet (she hates her ‘sausage’ toes) to meeting David Cameron, in a stream of consciousness that is both endearing and entertaining.
‘David Cameron came up to me in the lift – this was before he was actually Prime Minister – and said, “Hello darling, we used to know each other.” Thankfully, I did remember him: he used to work at Carlton Television, and when I was in [the Caroline Quentin sitcom] Kiss Me Kate – about 1999, I think – he was one of the execs and he was always knocking around,’ she recalls.
Sharp, funny and honest (she can evade questions she doesn’t like but she’s far too open to lie), Amanda is undeniably multitalented. She can sing, she can dance, she can act, she can commentate (she was part of the American CBS network’s team at the Royal Wedding) and she can even, she reveals with a squeal of embarrassed laughter, break wind to music in her current role as Princess Fiona in the West End stage version of DreamWorks’ Shrek (where she’s part of a cast that also includes Nigel Lindsay as Shrek and Nigel Harman as Lord Farquaad).
Plus, I discover later in our interview, she can read upside-down. Glancing atmy handwritten notes, she points to No 25 (‘Twitter – 250,000 followers’) and informs me that she has ‘closer to 450,000 now’.

'I made the mistake of confessing on TV that I had had Botox once. Now I don't have it and if I ever had it again I would never mention it'

There is no doubt, too, that she is hugely ambitious (she would love a chat show, and hasn’t ruled out the possibility of following her friend Piers Morgan’s lead and transferring her career to the US), but ask her how she would define herself and she says, without hesitation, ‘Mummy first, then actress, then presenter.’
Born in Hampshire to Judith and Frank Holden, she is one of two daughters (her sister Debbie teaches scuba diving in Egypt) and was performing almost as soon as she could walk. When she was four her parents separated and she has had little contact with her natural father since (as she says, ‘he walked out when I was four, popped in once when I was six and sent me a present when I was 16’). Amanda credits her mother and her stepfather Leslie Collister (who raised her from the age of five and whom she thinks of as ‘Dad’) for encouraging her to believe that she ‘could achieve anything’.  

Amanda wearing TrimSole shoes

Her first television appearance was as a cheeky but unsuccessful 19-year-old contestant on Blind Date in 1991 that has been wrongly assumed to be her ‘break’ into acting. At the time she was a first-year drama student at Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts in North London, and it would be several more years – and minor roles in everything from EastEnders to Jonathan Creek – before she became an established actress in series such as Cutting It and Wild at Heart. But it was being chosen as the female judge on Britain’s Got Talent – alongside Piers Morgan (to whom she has become very close) and Simon Cowell – in 2007 that turned her into a household name and added another dimension (one that she clearly adores) to her career.
I tell her that a friend of a friend who was at drama college with her (whom she instantly and enthusiastically identifies) had told me that all the boys were crazy about her but she seemed genuinely unaware of her appeal, preferring to be ‘just one of the lads’.
It’s a comment that has been echoed by Simon Cowell (whom she says, very affectionately, she calls ‘God’ or ‘Darth Vader’ or just plain ‘Darth’), who has said that one of the things he likes best about her is that she is ‘one of the boys’. When I suggest that maybe this refusal to use or even acknowledge her looks (at one point she says she is ‘not in the same league’ as Dannii Minogue or Cheryl Cole) is part of the secret of her success, she reluctantly agrees.
‘Well, I certainly don’t think I would use my looks or anything like that to take advantage of any situation. I don’t know why, it’s just not in my nature. I have a really close network of girlfriends and we are all the same – very practical, no nonsense; none of us is a diva or high maintenance. Being financially independent is very important, too. I could never rely on a man for that. I couldn’t go out and spend the amount I spend on shoes if it wasn’t my money,’she says.
Amanda’s romantic history has not been without its difficulties – an early marriage to comedian Les Dennis and a subsequent affair with actor Neil Morrissey prompted a lot of bad publicity – but since she got together with music producer Chris Hughes in 2003 (they married in December 2008 with their daughter Lexi, then two, as bridesmaid) she has been blissfully happy. Indeed it is when she is talking about Chris and Lexi that she is at her most relaxed.
Amanda had been aware of Chris – and he of her – for years before they got together but, self-deprecating to the last, she thought he was too tall and handsome to ever consider going out with her. ‘Then I went to a fashion show during London Fashion Week in February 2003 and he said, “You are the prettiest girl in this room,” and I just said, “Bog off, don’t be stupid,” because I thought it was a line, but it wasn’t. And then we went out for dinner and it was a proper wooing, but we kept it under wraps.
‘He is amazing – how lucky am I? He’s so fit, I look at him all the time and say, “I can’t believe I am going out with you,” and he says, “You are not going out with me, you are married to me, Mandy,”’ she says laughing.
They live in a large house in Surrey with Lexi, now five, a ‘mixed race’ dog called Fudge, a siberian cat called Muffy and a garden with a bright green AstroTurf lawn. A vegetarian (although she cooks meat for Chris), Amanda is happiest at home slopping around in ‘TrimSoles and Juicy Couture tracksuits’.
She is, she says, the ‘least glamorous’ mother at the school gates. ‘Everyone looks amazing, I don’t know how they do it – I have even been known to do the school run in my jammies with a coat over them. But I always wear sunglasses because I don’t have time to put on eye make-up. I don’t think Lexi’s teacher had ever seen my eyes until last week at parents’ evening.’

Amanda with her husband Chris and daughter Lexi

There has been endless press speculation about Amanda’s youthful looks but she insists that she only had Botox once and that she could never have cosmetic surgery because of a skin condition. ‘I made the mistake of confessing on TV that I had had Botox once. Now I don’t have it and if I ever had it again I would never mention it. I wouldn’t be able to go under the knife because I have keloid-prone skin, which means that any intervention, and particularly surgery, would leave me with massive scars. So now I just look to the latest noninvasive treatments – Thermage is brilliant, or Fraxel. They are skin-cleansing procedures that keep your collagen alive and awake with no knives or needles.
In truth she has very girlish good looks that can – particularly when she isn’t wearing make-up – make her appear much younger than she is.
‘I have always looked young, that’s the thing. Just before Christmas I bought a bottle of Baileys in Tesco and the man asked me for ID. I couldn’t believe it. I said, “Look, I am going to be 40 in two months, but I love you for asking!”’
Amanda doesn’t believe in diets and her enviably slim figure is due, she says, to the physical pressure of performing on stage in Shrek six days a week and, she quickly adds, the TrimSole leg-toning footwear that ‘is as effective as going to the gym’.
Her evident delight in motherhood (she doesn’t have nannies, relying instead on Chris and their families for childcare) is such that even after her recent loss – and an earlier miscarriage last year – she still hopes to have more children. ‘I am an optimist. I think, as bad as life sometimes gets, there is so much joy and so much good stuff that there is a balance. Although what happened is obviously horrifying, we can go on to have more children.’
She had been due to give birth in late March but in early February she became aware that the baby had not moved for 24 hours and she went into the West Middlesex hospital where she gave birth to a stillborn son.
‘I met the three midwives who looked after me through a documentary I made two years ago at the hospital and they are fantastic. They have gone on to become personal friends and they got Chris and me through the worst time of our lives. They went above and beyond the call of duty, both personally and professionally. I cannot thank them enough,’ she says. The experience has drawn Amanda even closer to Chris, who she describes as her ‘rock’.
‘We argue and bicker like all couples, and Chris calls me The Lip because he thinks I talk too much. But he is the love of my life and I am his and – how lucky – he is also my best friend, which is why we can get through anything. We are polar opposites. He is
very private, very closed, and I am pretty much an open book, but together it works. I always think we are like the plus and minus signs on a battery. It wouldn’t work without one or the other of us,’ she says.
Their main focus now is Lexi, who physically looks like a mix of the two of them but shares her mother’s character. Mother and daughter have a catchphrase, ‘Never give up’ (‘I say, “Never give up, Lexi”, and she says, “Never give up, Mama”’). They are a very tight unit and family life – like motherhood – comes first on Amanda’s list of things that define her.
‘Lexi does these hilarious impressions of me and Chris. For me she goes, “Hello, darling!” and for Daddy she goes, “Be careful, Bundle, be careful. It’s dangerous, Bundle”. Chris calls her Bundle. You can see the difference in our parenting – I am there saying, “Come on, darling, do it, jump a little higher”, and Daddy is always there to catch her.'

'I am an optimist. I think, as bad as life sometimes gets, there is so much to joy': Amanda Holden opens up

As she adds the starring role of Princess Fiona in Shrek the Musical to her already extensive CV, Amanda Holden tells Jane Gordon about her career ambitions, her nicknames for Simon Cowell, her anti-ageing secrets and how she found true love with her very own Prince Charming

'Although what happened is obviously horrifying, we can go on to have more children,' says Amanda Holden about her recent loss

The adjective most often used in association with Amanda Holden in the past few months in no way matches the woman sitting across the table from me. The 40-year-old actress has repeatedly been described as ‘tragic’, but today the words that come to mind are strong, good-natured and, most particularly, professional.
Before our interview – her first since the stillbirth of her son in February, seven months into her pregnancy – she has gamely posed for photographers (at one point stretched out across a grand piano in London’s Criterion Restaurant) in her role as the ‘face’ of the newly launched TrimSole toning shoes.
Now, nursing a skinny latte, she is expertly deflecting sensitive questions (of which more later) and, instead, gleefully talking about everything from the horror of baring her feet (she hates her ‘sausage’ toes) to meeting David Cameron, in a stream of consciousness that is both endearing and entertaining.
‘David Cameron came up to me in the lift – this was before he was actually Prime Minister – and said, “Hello darling, we used to know each other.” Thankfully, I did remember him: he used to work at Carlton Television, and when I was in [the Caroline Quentin sitcom] Kiss Me Kate – about 1999, I think – he was one of the execs and he was always knocking around,’ she recalls.
Sharp, funny and honest (she can evade questions she doesn’t like but she’s far too open to lie), Amanda is undeniably multitalented. She can sing, she can dance, she can act, she can commentate (she was part of the American CBS network’s team at the Royal Wedding) and she can even, she reveals with a squeal of embarrassed laughter, break wind to music in her current role as Princess Fiona in the West End stage version of DreamWorks’ Shrek (where she’s part of a cast that also includes Nigel Lindsay as Shrek and Nigel Harman as Lord Farquaad).
Plus, I discover later in our interview, she can read upside-down. Glancing atmy handwritten notes, she points to No 25 (‘Twitter – 250,000 followers’) and informs me that she has ‘closer to 450,000 now’.

'I made the mistake of confessing on TV that I had had Botox once. Now I don't have it and if I ever had it again I would never mention it'

There is no doubt, too, that she is hugely ambitious (she would love a chat show, and hasn’t ruled out the possibility of following her friend Piers Morgan’s lead and transferring her career to the US), but ask her how she would define herself and she says, without hesitation, ‘Mummy first, then actress, then presenter.’
Born in Hampshire to Judith and Frank Holden, she is one of two daughters (her sister Debbie teaches scuba diving in Egypt) and was performing almost as soon as she could walk. When she was four her parents separated and she has had little contact with her natural father since (as she says, ‘he walked out when I was four, popped in once when I was six and sent me a present when I was 16’). Amanda credits her mother and her stepfather Leslie Collister (who raised her from the age of five and whom she thinks of as ‘Dad’) for encouraging her to believe that she ‘could achieve anything’.  

Amanda wearing TrimSole shoes

Her first television appearance was as a cheeky but unsuccessful 19-year-old contestant on Blind Date in 1991 that has been wrongly assumed to be her ‘break’ into acting. At the time she was a first-year drama student at Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts in North London, and it would be several more years – and minor roles in everything from EastEnders to Jonathan Creek – before she became an established actress in series such as Cutting It and Wild at Heart. But it was being chosen as the female judge on Britain’s Got Talent – alongside Piers Morgan (to whom she has become very close) and Simon Cowell – in 2007 that turned her into a household name and added another dimension (one that she clearly adores) to her career.
I tell her that a friend of a friend who was at drama college with her (whom she instantly and enthusiastically identifies) had told me that all the boys were crazy about her but she seemed genuinely unaware of her appeal, preferring to be ‘just one of the lads’.
It’s a comment that has been echoed by Simon Cowell (whom she says, very affectionately, she calls ‘God’ or ‘Darth Vader’ or just plain ‘Darth’), who has said that one of the things he likes best about her is that she is ‘one of the boys’. When I suggest that maybe this refusal to use or even acknowledge her looks (at one point she says she is ‘not in the same league’ as Dannii Minogue or Cheryl Cole) is part of the secret of her success, she reluctantly agrees.
‘Well, I certainly don’t think I would use my looks or anything like that to take advantage of any situation. I don’t know why, it’s just not in my nature. I have a really close network of girlfriends and we are all the same – very practical, no nonsense; none of us is a diva or high maintenance. Being financially independent is very important, too. I could never rely on a man for that. I couldn’t go out and spend the amount I spend on shoes if it wasn’t my money,’she says.
Amanda’s romantic history has not been without its difficulties – an early marriage to comedian Les Dennis and a subsequent affair with actor Neil Morrissey prompted a lot of bad publicity – but since she got together with music producer Chris Hughes in 2003 (they married in December 2008 with their daughter Lexi, then two, as bridesmaid) she has been blissfully happy. Indeed it is when she is talking about Chris and Lexi that she is at her most relaxed.
Amanda had been aware of Chris – and he of her – for years before they got together but, self-deprecating to the last, she thought he was too tall and handsome to ever consider going out with her. ‘Then I went to a fashion show during London Fashion Week in February 2003 and he said, “You are the prettiest girl in this room,” and I just said, “Bog off, don’t be stupid,” because I thought it was a line, but it wasn’t. And then we went out for dinner and it was a proper wooing, but we kept it under wraps.
‘He is amazing – how lucky am I? He’s so fit, I look at him all the time and say, “I can’t believe I am going out with you,” and he says, “You are not going out with me, you are married to me, Mandy,”’ she says laughing.
They live in a large house in Surrey with Lexi, now five, a ‘mixed race’ dog called Fudge, a siberian cat called Muffy and a garden with a bright green AstroTurf lawn. A vegetarian (although she cooks meat for Chris), Amanda is happiest at home slopping around in ‘TrimSoles and Juicy Couture tracksuits’.
She is, she says, the ‘least glamorous’ mother at the school gates. ‘Everyone looks amazing, I don’t know how they do it – I have even been known to do the school run in my jammies with a coat over them. But I always wear sunglasses because I don’t have time to put on eye make-up. I don’t think Lexi’s teacher had ever seen my eyes until last week at parents’ evening.’

Amanda with her husband Chris and daughter Lexi

There has been endless press speculation about Amanda’s youthful looks but she insists that she only had Botox once and that she could never have cosmetic surgery because of a skin condition. ‘I made the mistake of confessing on TV that I had had Botox once. Now I don’t have it and if I ever had it again I would never mention it. I wouldn’t be able to go under the knife because I have keloid-prone skin, which means that any intervention, and particularly surgery, would leave me with massive scars. So now I just look to the latest noninvasive treatments – Thermage is brilliant, or Fraxel. They are skin-cleansing procedures that keep your collagen alive and awake with no knives or needles.
In truth she has very girlish good looks that can – particularly when she isn’t wearing make-up – make her appear much younger than she is.
‘I have always looked young, that’s the thing. Just before Christmas I bought a bottle of Baileys in Tesco and the man asked me for ID. I couldn’t believe it. I said, “Look, I am going to be 40 in two months, but I love you for asking!”’
Amanda doesn’t believe in diets and her enviably slim figure is due, she says, to the physical pressure of performing on stage in Shrek six days a week and, she quickly adds, the TrimSole leg-toning footwear that ‘is as effective as going to the gym’.
Her evident delight in motherhood (she doesn’t have nannies, relying instead on Chris and their families for childcare) is such that even after her recent loss – and an earlier miscarriage last year – she still hopes to have more children. ‘I am an optimist. I think, as bad as life sometimes gets, there is so much joy and so much good stuff that there is a balance. Although what happened is obviously horrifying, we can go on to have more children.’
She had been due to give birth in late March but in early February she became aware that the baby had not moved for 24 hours and she went into the West Middlesex hospital where she gave birth to a stillborn son.
‘I met the three midwives who looked after me through a documentary I made two years ago at the hospital and they are fantastic. They have gone on to become personal friends and they got Chris and me through the worst time of our lives. They went above and beyond the call of duty, both personally and professionally. I cannot thank them enough,’ she says. The experience has drawn Amanda even closer to Chris, who she describes as her ‘rock’.
‘We argue and bicker like all couples, and Chris calls me The Lip because he thinks I talk too much. But he is the love of my life and I am his and – how lucky – he is also my best friend, which is why we can get through anything. We are polar opposites. He is
very private, very closed, and I am pretty much an open book, but together it works. I always think we are like the plus and minus signs on a battery. It wouldn’t work without one or the other of us,’ she says.
Their main focus now is Lexi, who physically looks like a mix of the two of them but shares her mother’s character. Mother and daughter have a catchphrase, ‘Never give up’ (‘I say, “Never give up, Lexi”, and she says, “Never give up, Mama”’). They are a very tight unit and family life – like motherhood – comes first on Amanda’s list of things that define her.
‘Lexi does these hilarious impressions of me and Chris. For me she goes, “Hello, darling!” and for Daddy she goes, “Be careful, Bundle, be careful. It’s dangerous, Bundle”. Chris calls her Bundle. You can see the difference in our parenting – I am there saying, “Come on, darling, do it, jump a little higher”, and Daddy is always there to catch her.'

P-Middy will give you a bottom like Pippa Middleton's

Thanks to post-wedding Miss Middleton mania, I'm being bombarded with questions about how to tone bottoms - my female clients are desperate for a nicely rounded, perky behind just in time for summer.
There are moves that can help shape and lift the rear, whatever your shape.
This one - I call it the P-Middy - is great because it uses all three gluteal muscles that make up the backside and has the added bonus of toning your tummy and thighs.

Famous: Pippa's derriere has won millions of admirers since stepping out as maid of honour at sister Kate's wedding

Make sure your body is warmed up as this exercise requires a large range of movement through the hip and knee joints.
Place your feet a little wider than hip-width apart and allow your feet to turn out slightly to the corners of the room.

 

More...

• Can more sleep prevent obesity in children? Children who don't sleep enough more likely to grow up fat, say scientists
• Found, the 'ultra-bad' cholesterol present in elderly and type 2 diabetes sufferers

Place your hands halfway down your thighs and bend both knees slightly.
You will naturally start to lean forwards. If possible, try to make your torso run parallel to the floor, looking straight ahead. If this is too demanding, lean forward just a little.

No pain, no gain: A model demonstrates the P-Middy, which should help you achieve the Pippa Middleton derriere

Make sure the spine is straight and not curving. Your abdominals will automatically tense to support your lower back.
Now, with hands still on your thighs, transfer your weight on to the right leg, keeping it bent, and straighten your left leg out as much as possible to the side, keeping the knees in line with your ankles.
Tense your buttocks and hold this position for a couple of seconds. Now transfer your weight from your right side to your left, mirroring the previous position and holding for a couple of seconds again.
Repeat this shift from right to left until your legs and hips start to feel tired - this usually takes between ten and 20 repetitions.
Be conscious to keep your back straight throughout this exercise, with your abdominal muscles tensed, and look straight ahead.

P-Middy will give you a bottom like Pippa Middleton's

Thanks to post-wedding Miss Middleton mania, I'm being bombarded with questions about how to tone bottoms - my female clients are desperate for a nicely rounded, perky behind just in time for summer.
There are moves that can help shape and lift the rear, whatever your shape.
This one - I call it the P-Middy - is great because it uses all three gluteal muscles that make up the backside and has the added bonus of toning your tummy and thighs.

Famous: Pippa's derriere has won millions of admirers since stepping out as maid of honour at sister Kate's wedding

Make sure your body is warmed up as this exercise requires a large range of movement through the hip and knee joints.
Place your feet a little wider than hip-width apart and allow your feet to turn out slightly to the corners of the room.

 

More...

• Can more sleep prevent obesity in children? Children who don't sleep enough more likely to grow up fat, say scientists
• Found, the 'ultra-bad' cholesterol present in elderly and type 2 diabetes sufferers

Place your hands halfway down your thighs and bend both knees slightly.
You will naturally start to lean forwards. If possible, try to make your torso run parallel to the floor, looking straight ahead. If this is too demanding, lean forward just a little.

No pain, no gain: A model demonstrates the P-Middy, which should help you achieve the Pippa Middleton derriere

Make sure the spine is straight and not curving. Your abdominals will automatically tense to support your lower back.
Now, with hands still on your thighs, transfer your weight on to the right leg, keeping it bent, and straighten your left leg out as much as possible to the side, keeping the knees in line with your ankles.
Tense your buttocks and hold this position for a couple of seconds. Now transfer your weight from your right side to your left, mirroring the previous position and holding for a couple of seconds again.
Repeat this shift from right to left until your legs and hips start to feel tired - this usually takes between ten and 20 repetitions.
Be conscious to keep your back straight throughout this exercise, with your abdominal muscles tensed, and look straight ahead.

Any day now! Heavily pregnant Pink about to burst as she enjoys a lunch date with her husband

Heavily pregnant pop star Pink looks as though she is about to burst.
The singer, whose real name is Alecia Beth Moore, is due to give birth any day now and was spotted out spending some quality time with her husband Carey Hart.
The couple met a group of friends for lunch at Neptune's net restaurants during the Memorial Day weekend in Malibu.

Ready to pop: Pink has recently revealed she believes she is going to have a little girl

All smiles: Carey Hart puts a protective arm around his wife and is clearly delighted about their new baby

Pink arrived with friends driving a green Chevrolet and at one point looked as though she was barely able to get out of the car because of her large bump.

More...

• Keep in touch with the latest showbiz gossip by following the Daily Mail's Twitter page

Normally known for her athletic figure the star appears to be embracing her curves and looked stunning in a flowing white maxi dress with trendy nude wedges.

Unsure: The couple have not yet decided what they will be naming their baby and appear to disagree on certain names

Home-time: Pink's baby is due any day and she has been busy preparing for the new arrival

She finished off the outfit with a straw hat, a drop earrings and a pair of white-trimmed sunglasses.
Her motocross husband of five years was dressed in a black cap, black T-shirt with matching shorts and black trainers.
Carey put a protective arm around his wife but was clearly proud of her burgeoning stomach and smiled broadly as the couple approached the restaurant.
The pair have been busy preparing for their baby's arrival and recently bought their first home together, and paid a whopping £7.1m ($11.8) for the luxury pile.

Here she comes: Pink arrives with friends for lunch at Neptune's net restaurant

The So What singer also revealed to show host Ellen DeGeneres that she believes she is having a girl. She said she had already chosen names for her unborn baby but added that Carey wasn't too pleased with the choices.
'My dad's name is James and my brother's name is Jason. Carey and I are both Irish. Jameson - we like whiskey. It's a no brainer!' she said.
'I'm all about meaning. But Carey feels like he had a girl's hair cut and a girl's name, and he doesn't want our kid to have a weird name.'

Struggle: Pink's burgeoning baby bump makes it harder for her to get in and out of the car

Any day now! Heavily pregnant Pink about to burst as she enjoys a lunch date with her husband

Heavily pregnant pop star Pink looks as though she is about to burst.
The singer, whose real name is Alecia Beth Moore, is due to give birth any day now and was spotted out spending some quality time with her husband Carey Hart.
The couple met a group of friends for lunch at Neptune's net restaurants during the Memorial Day weekend in Malibu.

Ready to pop: Pink has recently revealed she believes she is going to have a little girl

All smiles: Carey Hart puts a protective arm around his wife and is clearly delighted about their new baby

Pink arrived with friends driving a green Chevrolet and at one point looked as though she was barely able to get out of the car because of her large bump.

More...

• Keep in touch with the latest showbiz gossip by following the Daily Mail's Twitter page

Normally known for her athletic figure the star appears to be embracing her curves and looked stunning in a flowing white maxi dress with trendy nude wedges.

Unsure: The couple have not yet decided what they will be naming their baby and appear to disagree on certain names

Home-time: Pink's baby is due any day and she has been busy preparing for the new arrival

She finished off the outfit with a straw hat, a drop earrings and a pair of white-trimmed sunglasses.
Her motocross husband of five years was dressed in a black cap, black T-shirt with matching shorts and black trainers.
Carey put a protective arm around his wife but was clearly proud of her burgeoning stomach and smiled broadly as the couple approached the restaurant.
The pair have been busy preparing for their baby's arrival and recently bought their first home together, and paid a whopping £7.1m ($11.8) for the luxury pile.

Here she comes: Pink arrives with friends for lunch at Neptune's net restaurant

The So What singer also revealed to show host Ellen DeGeneres that she believes she is having a girl. She said she had already chosen names for her unborn baby but added that Carey wasn't too pleased with the choices.
'My dad's name is James and my brother's name is Jason. Carey and I are both Irish. Jameson - we like whiskey. It's a no brainer!' she said.
'I'm all about meaning. But Carey feels like he had a girl's hair cut and a girl's name, and he doesn't want our kid to have a weird name.'

Struggle: Pink's burgeoning baby bump makes it harder for her to get in and out of the car

Tamara puts the va-va-VROOM into Ultimo! Racy Ecclestone strips down for lingerie deal

She is known for being the daughter of Formula 1 boss Bernie Ecclestone, but Tamara has landed a new modelling job away from her father’s limelight.
The 26-year-old socialite and model has been revealed as the new face and body of Ultimo lingerie.
And she appeared to be having a blast while showing off Michelle Mone’s latest underwear range for the firm.

New face and body: Tamara Ecclestone has been revealed as the new model for Ultimo lingerie and poses here in a black and red floral bra and knicker Orient set

Kelly Brook and Mel B have previously been spokeswomen for the brand, but now it’s Tamara Ecclestone’s turn in the spotlight.
She was photographed in a series of lingerie sets, from black and white polka dot covered knickers to leopard print bras.

 

More...

• Keep in touch with the latest showbiz gossip by following the Daily Mail's Twitter page

Tamara then changed into black and red floral designs before displaying a classic black set, which appeared to be Ultimo’s version of a push-up bra.
The star also has a busy summer ahead, as she is starring in a reality TV show called Tamara’s World.

Extravagant setting: She lives in a £45 million London home, so its no surprise the was photographed in a luxurious setting for the backdrop as she modelled the Odyssey bra

Push up! Tamara models the Dazzle bra for Ultimo - the company that has previously employed Kelly Brook and Mel B as models

She will be filmed renovating her £45 million London home alongside her stockbroker partner Omar Khyamie.
Tamara is also set to launch her own range of hair care products, in a bid to become an entrepreneur.
The model told the News of the World: ‘I’m not just Daddy’s little girl, I’m a passionate young woman with aspirations and ambitions.’
And she certainly has been living life in the fast lane lately, having also stripped off for a new PETA advert earlier this month.

Animal prints: Tamara models the Seduct shorts from Ultimo in leopard print, which she accessorised with dangling earrings and a matching bracelet

Her boss: Ultimo boss Michelle Mone poses with her new model Tamara after they finished the shoot

She has posed for three PETA adverts in total, to raise awareness for the charity ‘People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals’.
But when she’s not posing in her underwear, Tamara can be regularly seen on the party circut and tweeted last night: ‘Petra and at party too much champagne.’
She had attended a party with her sister Petra in Monte Carlo, Monaco, where she is currently staying with her father too.
Bernie, Petra and Tamara were spotted today before the Monaco Formular One Grand Prix at the Monte Carlo circuit.

Career ambition: The socialite also has a busy summer ahead, as she is starring in a reality TV show called Tamara's World

Family time: Father Bernie, sister Petra and Tamara were spotted today before the Monaco Formular One Grand Prix at the Monte Carlo circuit

Tamara puts the va-va-VROOM into Ultimo! Racy Ecclestone strips down for lingerie deal

She is known for being the daughter of Formula 1 boss Bernie Ecclestone, but Tamara has landed a new modelling job away from her father’s limelight.
The 26-year-old socialite and model has been revealed as the new face and body of Ultimo lingerie.
And she appeared to be having a blast while showing off Michelle Mone’s latest underwear range for the firm.

New face and body: Tamara Ecclestone has been revealed as the new model for Ultimo lingerie and poses here in a black and red floral bra and knicker Orient set

Kelly Brook and Mel B have previously been spokeswomen for the brand, but now it’s Tamara Ecclestone’s turn in the spotlight.
She was photographed in a series of lingerie sets, from black and white polka dot covered knickers to leopard print bras.

 

More...

• Keep in touch with the latest showbiz gossip by following the Daily Mail's Twitter page

Tamara then changed into black and red floral designs before displaying a classic black set, which appeared to be Ultimo’s version of a push-up bra.
The star also has a busy summer ahead, as she is starring in a reality TV show called Tamara’s World.

Extravagant setting: She lives in a £45 million London home, so its no surprise the was photographed in a luxurious setting for the backdrop as she modelled the Odyssey bra

Push up! Tamara models the Dazzle bra for Ultimo - the company that has previously employed Kelly Brook and Mel B as models

She will be filmed renovating her £45 million London home alongside her stockbroker partner Omar Khyamie.
Tamara is also set to launch her own range of hair care products, in a bid to become an entrepreneur.
The model told the News of the World: ‘I’m not just Daddy’s little girl, I’m a passionate young woman with aspirations and ambitions.’
And she certainly has been living life in the fast lane lately, having also stripped off for a new PETA advert earlier this month.

Animal prints: Tamara models the Seduct shorts from Ultimo in leopard print, which she accessorised with dangling earrings and a matching bracelet

Her boss: Ultimo boss Michelle Mone poses with her new model Tamara after they finished the shoot

She has posed for three PETA adverts in total, to raise awareness for the charity ‘People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals’.
But when she’s not posing in her underwear, Tamara can be regularly seen on the party circut and tweeted last night: ‘Petra and at party too much champagne.’
She had attended a party with her sister Petra in Monte Carlo, Monaco, where she is currently staying with her father too.
Bernie, Petra and Tamara were spotted today before the Monaco Formular One Grand Prix at the Monte Carlo circuit.

Career ambition: The socialite also has a busy summer ahead, as she is starring in a reality TV show called Tamara's World

Family time: Father Bernie, sister Petra and Tamara were spotted today before the Monaco Formular One Grand Prix at the Monte Carlo circuit