Kelly Brook opens up to the Mirror as she prepares to enter the I’m a Celebrity jungle on Sunday night and issued a heartfelt plea to fans who will tune into the show
TV star Kelly Brook has begged I’m a Celebrity viewers to accept her curves in the wake of getting trolled over her figure. The star was the target of vicious comments about her body after landing at Brisbane airport last Sunday.
As she prepares to strip off for the famous Jungle shower, the former model and TV presenter urged viewers to be “accepting” of the way she looked. She said: “Obviously, I am not a 20-year-old bikini model anymore. You know, life changes and your body changes. And I just hope people are accepting of me and how I look now, and not comparing me to how I used to look. You know, I am a very different person. I am older, but I am still strong and I am still fit, and that is the most important thing.”
Instead, she said she had “embraced” her curves. “I feel really confident. I feel like my body is in good shape. I just feel great,” she says. “I am 46, I embrace my curves. I embrace my body. I ran a marathon this year….so I am proud of that.”
Kelly has been forced to address comments over her figure for years. She once said: “I’ve always been a curvy girl and I’m proud of that.” When trolls previously accused her of being “too big”, she replied: “I’m a healthy size 12. I’m not apologising for having boobs and a bum.” And she is prepared to show them off after packing “plenty of swimsuits” for the famous Jungle Shower.
In fact, she has even discussed it with Myleene Klass whose white bikini went down in I’m a Celebrity history, in 2006. “Yes, Myleene did talk to me about the shower,” Kelly says. “She said that when she arrived she did not actually have a swimsuit that was appropriate for the television… so she actually had to run out and get something. I think it would be very difficult to try and recreate something like that. That was fate that was meant to be, and that was her moment”
Although she has vowed to strip off, it won’t be for long. “The showers are freezing so I will be in and out very quickly,” she says. Kelly admits the toughest part of being away is being separated from husband Jeremy Parisi, 40.
“That is what is really quite frightening,” she says. “We have been together 10 years… we do pretty much everything together.” Their relationship was a highlight of BBC hit Race Across the World, but the experience also raised a question for Kelly.
“I wonder if I can do this on my own,” she says. “I relied on Jeremy so much…so when this opportunity came up, I thought, ‘You know what? I should really test myself.’” She admits she doesn’t know how he will cope with her being out of the country.
“I am actually more worried about him being at home alone… I did not freeze any little meals for Jeremy, and he will probably be living on like takeaways,” she says. His mother, however, will step in.
“We have organised for his mum to come over and take care of him and the dog in the house. He is Italian. At the end of the day, he is a mamma’s boy.” Kelly says she quietly sought advice from several friends who’ve done the show before, including Oti Mabuse, Jane Moore, and Chris Moyles.
“Everyone I spoke to said it was life-changing… one of the best things they have ever done,” she says. Chris offered one unlikely tip. “He said ‘make sure you can sneak in a microwave,’” she laughs. Fellow Loose Woman Jane also advised keeping busy. “She said, if you love cleaning… that really passes the time,” she says.
Like every contestant, she has specific fears about what might be in store. “I have heard that the dunny is the place where all the spiders hang out,” she says. “When it rains, they all kind of crawl in there.”
Then there was the leech story. “Jane showed me a picture of her bra where a leech was… it lived off her breast all night. That was pretty gross.” Kelly has filmed and worked around the world, but says nothing compares to this.
“I have never, ever been in the middle of a jungle, sleeping under the stars,” she says. “I think it is going to be probably the most challenging thing I have ever done in my life… I have heard that it is life changing.” She adds: “I do not know who I am in there with yet but I am just hoping we just all have fun together.”
Kelly will turn 47 in camp, but managed a small party before flying out with her Heart Radio colleagues. “We had some drinks, and I got gifted a beautiful cake of my face, which was hilarious… So we had a little celebration before I left.”
One issue when she is in camp could also be mornings. “I am not great in the mornings, and not having sugar, salt, coffee… that is going to be the biggest test,” she says. “I kept saying to myself every day, I am going to wean myself off the coffee in Australia.”
The show, which starts on Sunday night on ITV, also features Angry Ginge, Jack Osbourne, Martin Kemp, Lisa Riley, Aitch, Alex Scott, Eddie Kadi, Shona McGarty and Ruby Wax. Ant and Dec return to presenting duties.
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