Kelly Brook reveals major career change after wowing in bikinis and lingerie in her best-selling calendar for 20 years
SHE has worn lingerie in poppy fields and been pictured seductively straddling motorbikes — but Kelly Brook says she has now grown tired of posing for the “male gaze”.
And the 44-year-old, who is married to actor and model Jeremy Parisi, no longer enjoys doing shoots for her bestselling annual calendars.
In an exclusive interview with The Sun on Sunday, she says: “Today I am happy in myself. I look in the mirror and I smile.
“It’s very hard having been a bikini model all through my 20s and then you hit 30 and they still want me to do calendars.
“I’m just not there for the male gaze any more. I’m married and I’m very happy being in my 40s.”
She and Jeremy, 39, can currently be seen in BBC One’s Celebrity Race Across The World — and next week they could be crowned winners.
Kelly first found fame at 18 after being spotted modelling for advertising campaigns.
She went on to become one of Britain’s most recognisable Page 3 girls.
‘Such kind eyes’
She was crowned FHM’s Sexiest Woman In The World in 2005 and appeared in every FHM 100 Sexiest countdown from 1998 to 2015.
Kelly posed for the first of her calendars in 2001, just after she finished a stint as host on Channel 4’s The Big Breakfast alongside Johnny Vaughan.
As well as being a pin-up the world over, she also dated some of the world’s most famous men, including Hollywood hardman Jason Statham, 57, American actor Billy Zane, 58, and rugby players Danny Cipriani, 36, and Thom Evans, 39.
Now there is only one man for her.
She met Jeremy in 2014 after sending him a message on Instagram.
She says: “He had such kind eyes and a beautiful smile. I was immediately attracted to him.
“We were friends for a while before we even met because we found each other online. We never rushed into a relationship, it was very gradual.
“We didn’t talk about getting married or having children together, we just wanted to get to know each other. He also made me laugh, which I believe is very important in any relationship.”
It’s very hard to think about children when you don’t know where you might be living
Kelly
They dated for seven years before she popped the question in 2020 — but he turned her down, saying the time wasn’t right.
They eventually married at his family-owned Italian villa Nota Pisani in July 2022.
Kelly says: “At the moment we just have our little fur baby dog, Teddy, he’s a Cockapoo. I’m not sure about having children yet.
“We are very focused on work and where exactly we want to live in the world. It’s very hard to think about children when you don’t know where you might be living.”
Kelly’s life has always been fast-paced.
She has starred in NBC sitcom One Big Happy, hosted Celebrity Love Island and been a regular panellist on Keith Lemon’s Celebrity Juice.
For the past five years, she has co-presented Heart London Drive-time and Saturday Breakfast with Jason King.
In 2007, she joined Strictly Come Dancing and was paired with Brendan Cole.
But she withdrew seven weeks later when her father Kenneth died from lung cancer, aged 57.
She says: “Brendan was amazing because he was also going through a bereavement in his family.
“We both supported each other, plus he was a brilliant partner for me. I could never go back on the show as I never want to go backwards — only forwards.”
Now she is loving being with Jeremy on Celebrity Race Across The World on BBC One and iPlayer, where they are racing three other teams 7,700 miles across the length of South America — without flights, bank cards or smartphones.
Kelly says: “I’m not that desperate to be on TV but I just thought this show would work for both of us. Besides, we didn’t have a proper honeymoon so this was an opportunity to travel.
“I think people can relate to our journey because it’s not all about who wins, so I think it has struck a chord with viewers. They also like to see how we get along together. In a way they are seeing Jeremy for the first time and getting to know him.
‘90s fun time’
“For me, it was all about the experience as I love to travel, even though we are doing it on a tight budget.
“So, it became a far harder challenge than I first imagined.
“One thing I discovered about Jeremy that I didn’t realise is just how competitive he is. He really was focused on getting across the line and winning.”
I started modelling very early and then the whole of the 1990s was a really fun time for me
Kelly
Kelly has her own drive, too, which she says comes from how she was brought up.
The model, who grew up in a working-class family in Rochester, Kent, says: “I wasn’t really aware of any struggles. My parents both worked and there was always food on the table.
“My late dad was a scaffolder, and he would go to the pub on a Sunday. It was a very normal British upbringing. I think my drive comes from just wanting to explore the world and be independent financially. The ambition to be famous definitely comes from my mum’s influence.
“I started modelling very early and then the whole of the 1990s was a really fun time for me — it was an amazing time to be a teenager.
“My determination comes from my mum teaching me not to rush into having kids because she was 17 when she had me, so she made me feel that life was there for the taking.”
Ever since, she has lived every calendar year to the fullest.