Special interview: Abi Titmuss

Jun 1 2010 By Adam Courtney

Five years ago, the notion of Abi Titmuss featuring on the pages of the Fulham Chronicle would have been laughable.

Back then, she was at the height of her fame as one of the most sought-after glamour models in the world, busy amassing a fortune thought to be in excess of £1m from glossy magazine editors, salacious tabloids and, shall we say, exotic television stations.

How things change. The setting of our meeting is the Baron's Court Theatre, a tiny venue which sits beneath The Curtains Up pub in Vereker Road, W14.

She is here busily rehearsing for her starring role in the upcoming production of Dolly Daydream, which she'll perform in front of about 50-odd pub/theatre-goers.

That her interview suitors are now hailing from the local press would have, I assumed, been somewhat of a crushing crash down to earth for her, but how wrong I was – this is, she insists, exactly how she's always wanted it to be.

Little did I know, until I researched her ahead of our interview, that she trained as an actress in her teens and always dreamt of treading the boards.

She made her acting bow in 2006, winning an award for Best West End Stage Debut for her performance in Arthur Miller's Two Way Mirror, and subsequent roles have included playing Lady Macbeth and a lead part in Fat Christ, as well as roles in films and TV shows.

"I never lost sight of the fact this is what I've always wanted to do," she says. "I trained as an actor and this is what I love doing – I just never imagined it would take so long because when I was modelling, I kept thinking to myself it would only last a week."

In actual fact, it lasted the best part of half a decade and her remarkable story is a classic tale of someone propelled from nothing to quite something in the flash of a camera bulb.

She was working as a nurse when she met TV presenter John Leslie in 1998 and led a quiet life with him until his infamous sexual assault trial in 2003 thrust her into the spotlight.

Pictured in national newspapers standing by her man during the hearing, her model looks didn't go unnoticed by magazine editors and it wasn't long before she was stripping off for them and being voted the seventh sexiest woman in the world.

Her own infamy followed with the leaking of a sex video and she was pursued mercilessly by paparazzi and gossip columnists, and despite commanding colossal fees for her pictures, life in the spotlight wasn't always to this Lincolnshire girl's liking.

"There were times when I was deeply unhappy – I certainly don't miss getting chased and harassed.

"It's only now I realise how incredible the amount of attention was – I got completely swept away and, at the time, I didn't really appreciate quite what was happening.

"There are some decisions I made that I don't understand now but, overall I'd do it all again. If I started thinking about the things I regret, I'd never stop, but, really, I feel lucky that it happened to me."

Needless to say, there were no shortage of sceptics when Abi hung up the thigh-high boots and broke into acting and even now, despite her obvious talent, they remain.

"I still get prejudice but I don't dwell on it. I have to work doubly hard to prove myself but I wouldn't still be here if it wasn't for hard work or a modicum of talent.

"I'm lucky really – I've come into this having already got a profile but I don't see myself as different to any other actor who wants to get recognised."

Her determination to succeed and be hailed as a serious actress is obvious, and she has no problem cutting her teeth in the smaller venues, which is why she is looking forward to Dolly Daydream, a comedy drama set in 1939 Yorkshire.

It follows Dolly's journey through puberty and adolescence against a homelife that is beginning to fall apart in the weeks leading to the Second World War, and sees Abi playing three parts, performing not only as Dolly's mother, who is trying to escape her alcoholic husband, but also her dance teacher and neighbour.

"It's a wonderful show and it's been a real challenge, especially learning 1930s dance, but I love making hard work for myself and I just want to be a better actress.

"I'm also really looking forward to performing in a small venue. I've been in big theatres but I found myself longing for the intimacy you get at somewhere smaller, where the audience feel like they're almost in the play.

"You have to change your stage craft again."

Her burgeoning new career, one senses, has given her the self respect her previous carnation simply couldn't and her ambition knows no bounds, hoping to one day break America.

"I was never that happy doing what I was doing before because I didn't really feel I deserved it.

"Men used to come up to me and say they loved my work but I found that hilarious because, and I'm not trying to belittle what I was doing, I was thinking to myself, 'what work'?

"I've got much more respect for myself now. Who knows what the future holds – I'd love to go to America but, for now, I just want to keep bettering myself."

*Dolly Daydream, a play by John Phillips and directed by Mark Pollard, runs at the Baron's Court Theatre at the Curtains Up pub, Vereker Road, on Tuesdays to Sundays from June 8-27. Performances at 7.45pm and and Saturday matinees at 2.30pm.

Call 0207 602 0235 for tickets.