Living Life the Essex Way (7 page)

BOOK: Living Life the Essex Way
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My Tips for Red-carpet Posing


Always put one leg out in front of the other to elongate it. I always go for my right leg.


Put the opposite hand on your hip, and let the other one hang down by your side. This stops you looking too square, and if you have broad arms
it will distract from that. I have my left hand on my hip, with my right arm hanging by my side.


Breathe in and you will get more definition on your neck, which looks better in a picture.


Keep your chin up to better define your jawline. Or if you are confident you won’t get a double chin, you can always drop your head a
little and look upwards for a sexier look.


It sounds obvious, but smile! It makes you instantly more likeable. Or, if for whatever reason you don’t want to smile, at least squint
your eyes a bit, so they look smiley and friendly. Don’t pout unless you are doing it to be fun – a genuine attempt at pouting doesn’t work for 99 per cent of
people.

4
THE MEN IN MY LIFE

Sorry for the bad news, boys, but I am actually already married. The lucky lad is Wayne Marshall. I wore a white puffball dress with beads and a bow as we exchanged vows, and
Billie was my maid of honour. We swapped rings while friends and family looked on, and a man called Tom was the vicar. The only problem was, I was only seven years old, and poor Wayne probably
didn’t know what he was letting himself in for!

Yep, we got married one Saturday afternoon at a friend’s house. One of the ‘lucky’ parents had to pretend to be the vicar, and I wore the dress I had worn as a flower girl for
my Aunt Libby’s wedding just months before. We had rings, although who knows where they were from – probably a slot machine, or a Christmas cracker. Everyone else pretended to be
guests, and after the ceremony we even had a reception. There was no divorce – Wayne and I just grew apart, I guess. I wonder if he even remembers – as a girl, I certainly do.

Finding ‘The One’ and getting married is something I have always hoped I will do. It’s just that so far it hasn’t happened. And it’s not for a shortage of
boyfriends, I will admit! I am one of those people who definitely spend more time in relationships than out. It’s not that I am afraid of being alone – I am independent enough for that – but I enjoy
being in a relationship, and I always seem to come across someone at the right time. I throw myself into every relationship properly, and put everything into it – I believe in giving it your
full effort. If you don’t believe in the relationship, you shouldn’t be in it.

That wholehearted determination is something that has always applied to me, even with my first boyfriend. And yes, Wayne, despite my young age, was not even the first!

That honour went to another little boy whose parents were friends with my parents. He was called Billy, and I think I probably tormented him really. I remember always being pretty boisterous
with him and grabbing his cheeks whenever I saw him. Our parents used to ask if we were boyfriend and girlfriend, and I’d say yes, while at the same time he would determinedly be saying no!
Even in the one picture I have found of the two of us together, it is pretty clear that the feelings were rather one-sided – while I look as pleased as anything as I wrap myself around him,
the poor boy just looks unhappy, and pretty terrified. The complications of young love . . . even if I was oblivious to them at the time!

I had a few other boyfriends through primary school – if you can call them that. I remember a guy called Joe who I had a massive crush on in Year 6. My memory is a bit hazy, but I have a
feeling he may have been the first guy I kissed. Then there was Harry Lonergan, who was in Year 7. I suppose he was the first person I officially went out with, although a snog and a bit of
hand-holding was as far as it went. He was a family friend, and I really fancied him, although now he is more like a brother to me.

Then there was Aaron Corse. Looking back at it, our relationship was so innocent and cute – it was lovely! We used to meet up as part of a group every Saturday. I guess that was the
closest thing we got to a date. We were in Year 8, and I remember we didn’t kiss for ages, but when we did we were together for six months. He used to do things like pay for my ticket when we
all went to the cinema, which I thought was really sweet at the time. But the best present of all that I can remember was when he gave me a £20 phone credit for my mobile. That was amazing,
and made me so happy – I only ever bought £5 at a time, so I was really touched!

I guess my first proper boyfriend was Frazer Parrish. Like everyone I had dated up until this point, he was a local guy from a pretty similar background. We got together when I was 15 and he was
17, and we dated for nine months. We first met through friends and started texting each other, and then I saw him at a few house parties – they were the big thing at the time – and I
got to know him better. He asked me out, and I remember our first date was at the cinema, but I’m not sure what we saw. Then we pretty quickly got more serious, and he met my parents and
that.

He had left school, worked as a builder and drove a car, so I felt really grown-up going out with him. I loved it when he picked me up in his car, even though it was just an Astravan that he
used for work – I’d secretly look around to see if anyone noticed me getting in whenever he arrived! His world seemed so far away from mine, as I headed to school in my uniform every
day, but I loved that.

He was very generous and gave me some really nice presents. I remember these Timberland boots with fur around the top that I loved, and he also bought me my first diamond. It was a ring with a
glass heart with a diamond chip inside it that moved about. It was similar to those amazing Chopard ones, and I still have it today.

Frazer was also the first guy I slept with, and we had been together about three months when it happened. We didn’t plan to have sex, but it kind of just happened. We didn’t make a
big deal of it – I just remember him worrying about me all the time and asking if I was OK, which was nice. I don’t regret him being my first at all – I am happy it happened for
me while I was in a relationship, rather than the way some people go about it, having sex with someone they don’t know well and then wishing they had waited for someone a bit more important.
He was a good guy.

That summer my family went to Spain as usual, for the six-week school holiday. Both Billie and I had boyfriends, and they came out to stay with us for a week. But soon after that holiday, my
relationship with Frazer just faded. We didn’t row, but even though he was older, I think I kind of grew out of him. I was very young when we started dating, and I just lost interest. I say
hello if I see him now, but it was years ago – we are both very different people.

The second person I slept with in my life was actually Mark Wright – and this is not something I admit often! But for people who have questioned how far back our history goes, there is
your answer. My friend Jerri’s boyfriend, Leo, played football with him, and I remember it was in the days before Facebook and Twitter had taken off, and MySpace was the website everyone was
using. Jerri and I were looking through Leo’s photos on MySpace, and I was like ‘Who is that? He’s so fit!’ about Mark. Then, can you believe, I did that teenage thing of
getting her to get her boyfriend to tell him I had said that. I’m not sure what I expected to come of that, and funnily enough nothing did!

I think the first time we actually talked was in Club One9Five in Epping. He knew about me by then, and we started chatting. I was 16 and he was older – I guess around 20 – which at
that age can feel like quite a big gap. I didn’t know about Lauren Goodger at that time, and he didn’t mention her, so I guess they were on one of their off periods, after one of their
many rows. Nothing happened for a while – he would just text me every now and then. But I guess that was the start of whatever me and Mark were – or still are.

My friends had started going to a club in Brentwood called Sugar Hut around that time, and I guess I don’t have to explain much about that! Even then it was owned by Mick Norcross. We
weren’t actually old enough to be there at the time, but we pretended we were. I remember going for a night out there once with my sister, Mark and his brother Josh, who Billie was kind of
seeing. They were never a couple, but always seemed to be flirting and texting. It was the first time we all went out together.

Then Mark asked me out on the only date we ever went on – until we went skiing on the date that was filmed for series three. How bad is that?! I am sure everyone thought I was exaggerating
when I said on the show that he had only taken me on a date once before, but that is totally the truth – Mark is not a date man . . .

He took me to Zizzi restaurant in Brentwood High Street, but to be honest it wasn’t the best date. I was young and not very worldly, and I didn’t know what to talk about. So even
though we made an effort while we sat there eating our pasta and pizza, the date was awkward and uncomfortable. We went on to a friend’s party afterwards, but it just didn’t work out.
Mark didn’t ask for a follow-up date, and I wasn’t really hoping for one.

But a few months later we met at Club One9Five again, and started talking. The chemistry was clearly still there, and we ended up kissing, and later went back to his parents’ house,
although luckily I didn’t bump into them. We went to his bedroom and I slept with him. I don’t remember much about it, other than it was quite simple and straightforward – we were
too young and inexperienced for it to be anything more! Nothing came of it anyway – I don’t think either of us was up for an actual relationship with the other. And to be honest, I
sensed from the kind of texts that he sent that it wasn’t going to turn into anything more serious. There was a connection, but that was it. For the time being anyhow.

I still wasn’t aware of Lauren, and I am not sure if she was on the scene at that time. I thought he was single, but you never know with Mark. I only found out about Lauren when I started
going to Marbella a couple of years later and learned about her there.

But despite the fact that our relationship was going nowhere, Mark and I and our friends socialised together for a while after our one night together, and we had a real laugh. ‘There was
still a connection, and from time to time things happened, but only after a few drinks, and only really for fun. And then we grew apart again when I got a new boyfriend.

This guy was the first person I really thought I loved. He was called Marc Palmer, and he was a barber. He was older – 22 I think – and we were together for a year. I was really into
him, and we had such a good relationship. He really was someone I thought I could have had a future with. He was pretty paranoid though – I remember finding him going through my phone, which
was ironic really, because it all fell apart when I found out he had cheated on me with Jodie Marsh. She was just becoming famous at the time, and was pretty well known in the area and on the club
scene. Marc didn’t tell me what had happened, but she pretty much told the world she had slept with him, so I was hearing it from all my friends. I didn’t want to believe it, but
everything pointed towards it, so we split up. I was totally heartbroken, and what made it worse was that he would go out with her and they would get papped together. It was so horrible, and so in
my face. While everyone else was mad at her for giving Essex a bad name, I was mad at her for breaking my heart.

Jodie is quite notorious as a maneater in Essex – if she wants someone, she really goes after them. She went after Mark Wright – although you won’t hear him boasting about that
too much!

Mark’s reputation as a womaniser is definitely deserved. I can’t believe he claims he has only slept with 20 people – I could name 20 women just off my Facebook friends alone.
I reckon it is probably triple that, which I guess is still lower than a lot of people would imagine. He is always trying to protect his reputation, and make himself look more clean-cut. But nope,
womaniser he is!

Anyway, when I caught Marc cheating on me, I broke up with him and began seeing this lovely guy called TJ. But Marc and I had booked a holiday to Egypt later that year, and I was
still young, and to be honest I really wanted to go on the holiday! Despite his cheating, I still had strong feelings for him, and he had been really trying to win me back. So I broke things off
with TJ and got back with Marc. Looking back, it was a really stupid thing to do, and I do regret it – TJ was so lovely, as I found out better at a later date!

So Marc and I jetted off to Egypt – and as soon as we got there I knew I didn’t want to be with him. I had grown out of him, and just couldn’t get my head around forgiving him
for cheating, so the holiday wasn’t exactly the romantic getaway of a lifetime that it could have been with the right person, and we split again soon after the holiday.

Sadly Marc was the first but not the last boyfriend to cheat on me. I just don’t get it – if you want to be free to be with other people, fine, but don’t stay in a
relationship! If you are in a relationship, bloody well behave!

I got with my next boyfriend a few months later, when I was 18. He was from Chingford, was very handsome and polite, worked in the City and was just a year older than me. I thought I loved him.
We were together for a year, I loved his family and it felt like we were a really good couple. But then he started going off the rails. He was staying out until crazy hours, lost his licence for
drink-driving, and then he lost his job. At the same time, everyone was telling me that he was cheating on me, but he denied it and I wanted to believe him.

I remember one night though, when he had a house party and was still out of it in the morning. His phone alarm kept going off and I was trying to wake him, and I went to cancel the alarm. I
could see loads of messages on the phone from a girl, and it was obvious that he had asked her out. Normally I am so calm, and when I am upset or angry I just withdraw into myself. But that was the
limit for me – I went mad. He woke up and went crazy too – it was the only time he scared me. He pushed me and I fell into the dressing table. He was pinning me down and I had to scream
for his brother to come and get him off. It was so weird that he went for me when he was the one cheating – I guess his guilty conscience got the better of him.

BOOK: Living Life the Essex Way
5.52Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
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