This Morning star Holly Willoughby has opened up about her career as a model before she found fame as a TV presenter, and it sounds like it was far from glamorous!
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Chatting on The Jonathan Ross Show, she revealed: "My first job was for sanitary towels. I remember all my friends saying, 'Let's see you in a magazine!' [I was there saying] 'Don't look at it!'" she said, before jokingly adding: "I was the face of sanitary towels."
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Her fellow guest Joanna Lumley also reminisced about her modelling days, revealing that she also had her fair share of embarrassing jobs. She said: "I did one [shoot] which was awful. It was a magazine called Flair [and it was about cleaning your face with soap]. Got the soap… three hours [of doing it]. My face was burnt, it was all burnt."
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Holly's modelling career kicked off when she was just 14 years old. The teenager was scouted at The Clothes Show Live exhibition in Birmingham back in 1995 and was later signed to Storm Model Management – the same agency as Kate Moss.
Holly at age 16 modelling for Mizz magazine
As well as work she did modelling sanitary products, she also appeared in magazines including Mizz, Just Seventeen, More! and Shout. When she turned 17, she moved into lingerie modelling, appearing in advertisements and posters for Pretty Polly.
Two years later, she landed her first on-screen presenting role on CITV and in 2009, she began co-hosting This Morning alongside Phillip Schofield.
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Elsewhere in the show, Holly also admitted that she was left "hurt" by the recent reports that she is set to leave the ITV weekday show.
"I've read those things, too," she said when asked if she was aware of the rumours about her exit. "It hurts sometimes because it's so unfair and untrue, so it's difficult sometimes. We're just incredibly lucky. So no, I'm not retiring."
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It was reported earlier this year that Holly had negotiated a new contract that will see her stay put on the This Morning sofa until the end of 2023. She took over the role of co-host from Fern Britton back in 2009, meaning that by the end of her current deal, she will have hosted for 14 years. Meanwhile, co-host Phillip will celebrate two decades on the show next year.
However, she said that starting her career in modelling was a "good life, but a tough life". She explained: "It was just tough. You were paid by the hour. One minute late, they'd dock half your hour's pay."
