Читать книгу Tell Me a Secret - True Confessions of Britain's Most Erotic Dancers and Models - Dawn Simpson - Страница 30

It was something I always wanted to do. I made the mistake of telling everyone at school that I wanted to be a model, which gave them an excuse to tease and pick on me. They said that I was too skinny to be a model and took the piss out of me because I was ambitious. ‘You will never make it as a model,’ they used to shout. They branded me a slag, because they assumed anyone who wanted to take their clothes off for a living must sleep around – ‘Well, hello, 18-year-old mother-of-four, look at me now! I’m a working model who’s got here herself!’

I hated all the teasing at school, but now, thanks to being teased, it’s made me stronger and more determined to be a success – I’ve got the last laugh, because I’m the one living my dream.

It hasn’t been easy by any means. I spent, and still spend, hours/days researching, making as many contacts as I can and entering every competition. It has to be like that at first, until you have reached the level when you have an agent and PR team behind you. You have to fight for every opportunity.

I got my big break when I had just turned 17. It was my first holiday in Ayia Napa, Cyprus. I was there with my boyfriend, Andrew Newton – he played Robbie Flynn in Hollyoaks. We were chilling at a beach bar, indulging in our first beer of the day, when the Sport newspaper spotted me. I lied and said I was 18 and got some work. It all went from there really. I have never stopped working since.

I don’t think people realise that it is hard work and only the very determined and ambitious make it. You work long hours and are expected to look glamorous ALL the time. Don’t even get me started on the mental strain and frustration – the last five years I’ve been told I’m a wannabe, a marriage wrecker, been compared to the Kiss ’n’ Tell Queen, Alicia Davail – but, God, do I love this career and wouldn’t change my life for anything!