I’ve known Kelly Brook for 16 years – she confided her secret heartache to me & it’s the reason she’ll NEVER lose weight
I’VE known Kelly Brook for more than a decade. Over the years we’ve gossiped about everything from her turbulent love life to her career highs (and lows) and her appearance.
Which is why I know exactly how she feels about her ‘normal’ body and how she’ll react to all the vile comments when she comes out of the I’m A Celebrity jungle.
Kelly Brook is taking part in the 25th series of I’m A CelebrityCredit: Shutterstock Editorial
Kelly has appeared on the Fabulous Magazine cover multiple timesCredit: MARK HAYMAN / FABULOUS MAGAZINE
Kelly Allen with namesake Kelly BrookCredit: Supplied
Growing up in the 90s, watching Kelly and Johnny Vaughan on Channel 4’s The Big Breakfast before school was a rite of passage.
She was just 19 when she landed the coveted TV gig and I remember thinking she was only a couple years older than me but was so beautiful and absolutely tiny.
Fast forward a couple of decades and I’ve joined my namesake working in showbiz.
JUNGLE QUEEN
I first met Kelly in 2009 at the posh GQ Awards – she excitedly told me she was about to jet off and try and make it as an actress in LA.
She was anticipating catching the exercise bug in the California sun and living her days hiking in the Hollywood Hills and sipping on green juices.
I liked her instantly. She was warm and she never took herself too seriously.
But it didn’t work out for her Stateside and I often saw her back in the UK.
When I spotted her at the Brit Awards in 2019, she joked “It was 20 years ago the first time I came to these awards. It’s not lost on me that somehow I’m still managing to get here.”
She added with a cackle. “Do you think you and I will manage another 20 years of getting here?”
She’s also adorned the cover of Fabulous Magazine several times and always gives her all to the photoshoots making them the best they can be, as well as giving a juicy chat.
I remember we shot her in an American style diner and despite it being absolutely roasting, she never complained instead making jokes with the crew about her milkshake.
So I knew as she arrived in the jungle she would be an excellent campmate and deliver great entertainment as she did from the first Bushtucker Trial joking that the bugs were “biting her t*ts”.
But I’ve no doubt as soon as she strips off to ‘do a Myleene’ in the shower, the internet will be full of trolls criticising her weight.
Some of the skinniest times in my life have been my most miserable
Kelly Brook
We’re both curvy girls who have struggled with our weight over the years and she’s confided in me multiple times about how she really feels about her ‘normal’ body.
When she arrived at the airport fully clothed she received an onslaught of criticism along the gross vein of, ‘Put on some timber.’
But their taunts will NOT bother Kelly one bit as she knows being skinny does not equal being happier.
“Some of the skinniest times in my life have been my most miserable. When I lost my dad in 2007 I was 8 1/2st. I would not want to be in that place again,” she previously told Fabulous.
She added: “I’m not the 23-year-old bikini model on a beach in a B-movie. It was fun to be that girl, I loved it, but I didn’t have to work for that body.
Kelly’s career timeline
June 1995 – modelling career begins
Kelly won a beauty competition at age 16, which led to professional modeling jobs. She featured in adverts, campaigns, and magazines, quickly becoming a familiar face in men’s lifestyle publications.
March 1997 – Appears in men’s magazines
Kelly’s photos were plastered amongst the pages of GQ, FHM, and Loaded and it boosted her popularity. And she was frequently ranked in FHM’s annual “100 Sexiest Women in the World” lists.
September 1998 – MTV presenter
Kelly lands a TV presenter role for MTV UK.
January 1999 – Channel 4 presenter
Kelly moves to Channel 4 as The Big Breakfast presenter and becomes a household name.
May 2000 – Acting career begins
Kelly made her film debut in Sorted.
June 2003 – First Hollywood production
Kelly appears in The Italian Job with a minor role.
October 2005 – Stars in Survival Island
September 2007 – Strictly Come Dancing
Kelly competes in the fifth series of Strictly, but had to quit mid way through because her father died of cancer.
August 2010 – returns to acting
Kelly appears in Piranha 3D.
April 2012 – Celebrity Juice
Kelly became a regular guest on the ITV comedy show.
March 2015 – TV role
Kelly starred in the NBC sitcom One Big Happy and it marked her first lead role in an American TV series.
June 2019 – Radio host
Kelly becomes the co-host of Heart FM’s drivetime radio show.
November 2025 – I’m A Celeb
Kelly signs up to the 25th series of the popular ITV reality show.
“That was just my body. I used to eat and drink whatever I wanted. All 20 year olds look cute, don’t they? No wrinkles, lovely skin, all toned. But I’m not there any more, I’m something else now and that’s fine.”
It’s worth noting that Kelly, who is now 45, is a size 12 – two sizes smaller than the UK average of size 16.
And it’s refreshing to know that Kelly – who still has most of the men I know swooning by the way – is accepting that women’s bodies change as they get older.
She thanks her French/Italian husband of three years, Jeremy Parisi, for helping her worry less about the number on the scales and love her body as it is.
Kelly and husband Jeremy on holidayCredit: Instagram
Kelly with Martin Kemp. She has thrown herself into the I’m A Celebrity challengesCredit: DIGITAL/EROTEME.CO.UK
“I’m at my weight that I love and I will stay at this weight no matter what is coming up in the future,” she told me ahead of her 2022 wedding.
“I was definitely somebody that didn’t eat that much when I met Jeremy. I didn’t really have a real relationship with food, to be honest.
“And when I met him, he was always saying ‘well, are we going to eat?’ Jeremy loves pasta. He could eat it for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Jeremy does most of the cooking. He’s very good.
“He works out every day so I don’t think he’s skipped a meal in the whole seven years. He’s very much like ‘lunch and dinner we have to sit down and eat’ and there’s no negotiation.
“I definitely look back at some older pictures of myself and being thinner doesn’t mean being happier- and you need to remember that. It’s not that I don’t want to be fit and healthy because I do. But it’s not the be all and end all [to be thin].”
Kelly in her iconic pink dress at the ‘Snatch’ Premiere in August 2000Credit: Rex
Kelly and ex Jason Statham at the 2004 MTV Movie AwardsCredit: Getty
And that’s not to say Kelly – like most of us – doesn’t enjoy looking back on old pictures and reminiscing about how banging she used to look.
She is a particular fan of her red carpet appearance at the Snatch premiere in 2000 with ex Jason Statham where she stole the show in a barely there pink Julien MacDonald dress that flashed her bum and her boobs.
“I don’t still have the dress,” she says. “I think I sent that back to Julien MacDonald and he will have it in his archives. I’m not even sure I’d get that round my left leg now.
“And I remember at the time, my stylist Marchella said to me ‘You have to wear it because you’ll look back in 20 years from now you’ll be like, “Wow, look at that body. I’m so happy that I looked like that”. And it’s true!”
Kelly in 2010 for Piranha 3DCredit: Alamy
