Living Life the Essex Way (6 page)

But the more you are photographed, the more you become aware of it and the kind of image you are putting across. I guess that is why some real A-list celebrities, who have been doing this for
years, avoid getting photographed unless everything is completely managed, so that their image is totally controlled (not that I’m in the same category!). I never want to be like that, but as
I say, I am more aware of how it can come across, and now avoid anything that might be taken the wrong way.

So, this party was at Battersea Power Station in London and was really good fun. Amy and I couldn’t believe we were there, along with all these celebs. We couldn’t stop giggling as
we met all these people we had loved when we were growing up, like Example, Lethal Bizzle and Professor Green – and, oh my God, they were recognising us!

It was great, and pretty overwhelming. Tinie Tempah was singing that night, and he also recognised us. He asked, ‘Can Essex girls sing?’ before handing us the mic. Needless to say,
after we’d had a go and had given him the mic back, he said that no, we clearly couldn’t sing!

All the free drinks and food at the event were a new thing for us, and although I have got used to it now I haven’t forgotten how lucky I am to be in this position. There were people
walking around with trays of champagne and cocktails and all these random little canapés. It takes a while to get used to controlling yourself at these things – you would leave all of
the showbiz parties very drunk and very full otherwise. You get spoilt really, and that’s not something I ever want to take for granted.

Same goes for the goody bag that you get given at the end of most events – it is now normal for me to get bags of free gifts and presents everywhere I go, but in the beginning it was a
real novelty. Again, I never want to forget how lucky I am, and I make sure I am always really grateful for things like that. I’m always giving stuff to my family and friends, and a lot of it
goes to charity.

One thing that makes me laugh, looking back on that night, is how much our families enjoy our fame. I remember mine and Amy’s mums at our front doors as they saw us off, wishing us loads
of luck for the evening and telling us to have fun. They were really excited for us. But now when we head out, they are like ‘Yep, whatever, bye. Don’t wake us up when you get
in!’ It’s funny how these kinds of events that are like the best night of your life the first time, soon become almost normal and just part of the job.

No one has ever actually taught me how to pose for the pictures at these events though – it is just something I have learned myself. I spent a lot of time looking at early pictures to see
what looked right and wrong. For example, I used to smile a lot more, as I do think smiling is the best thing in pictures, but I could see that as I have big cheeks, they went up too much when I
smiled and I didn’t like how it looked. So now I just give a small smile, or I try to smile more with my eyes than my mouth.

I don’t like my arms, as I think they are too big. Even when I lose weight, they don’t slim down – I know, as I have tried! I think years of doing gymnastics as a child has
kind of bulked them up. So I have learned to always, always have one hand on my hip in pictures, which makes my arms look smaller and draws people’s attention away from them, as my body is
creating a different shape.

Another thing I don’t like are my ears. I think they are too big, so you will hardly ever see them in pictures. Even if I have my hair up, I always pull bits over the tops of my ears to
hide them, or at least make them look smaller. I hope you are not laughing at me as you read this, cos I know it sounds crazy! But everyone has things they don’t like about themselves. And
like all these things, it is only by trying stuff out that you know what works for you.

I keep quite close track of what pictures of me appear in the media. My manager, Adam Muddle, watches closely as well, but I still like to get the
Daily Star
and the
Sun
most
days, and I look at the
Daily Mail
and the
Mirror
online. I have a Google alert set up for my name as well, so if a story appears about me somewhere, it gets emailed to me. That
may sound extreme, but I like to see what is being written, and I like to collect the stories for the memories.

I get most of the weekly celebrity magazines as well, because even when there is no story about me in them, I am still interested in what is being written about people I know. I have got pretty
used to being written about, but I still get a bit of a buzz when it is a particularly good article or a picture where I am happy with how I look.

I have a book at home with all my cuttings since the show began – there are hundreds, if not thousands, of articles in there now.

Generally I have been pretty lucky – I haven’t taken too much abuse for my appearance in the papers, and I have only once appeared in one of those articles criticising how celebs
look – touch wood! It was just a ‘hoop of shame’ in one of the magazines, and it was for being spotted out with rollers in my hair, which I didn’t really mind.

I like to look glamorous, but I am not going to pretend I always look like that, or refuse to leave the house without being completely made-up. I live on a private road with a field opposite, so
I am quite lucky in that way – photographers can’t really sit around waiting to get a picture of me without being noticed. And if they are there, it is normally because I have tweeted
that I am going out or something, in which case, if they do get a picture, I am going to be happier with how I look as I will be prepared.

But if I am just going to the shop, I will put on a trackie and sunglasses and not bother with make-up, and I think that’s OK. The only thing I might do is put something on my skin if it
is not looking good that day. Having my skin criticised is probably the thing that would upset me the most. But other than that, I think I am quite tough-minded, and criticism wouldn’t bother
me too much. I’d try not to take notice of it.

The other thing I have done occasionally to make sure the pictures that are printed of me are good is make an agreement with a photographer for paparazzi-type shots. It’s always a bit of a
weird one, because I don’t ever want to set up fake photographs. But on the other hand, if there is something that you know the press want a photograph of, it is sometimes better to have the
picture taken in a situation where you have some say and earn some of the money as well.

For example, when I split up with Joey, I got together with a guy called TJ. Due to the growing success of the show, I knew the first pictures of us as a couple would be of interest to the
public, and photographers were trying to get it. So if I made a deal with a photographer to have the photos taken, in exchange for some of the money and a chance to check them before they were sent
to the press, I could have some control over what went out, and everyone else would be happy too. I don’t see that there is any problem with me earning money from photos like that – why
should everyone else earn money by printing a picture of me when I don’t even get a share?

So, in this case, my manager Adam arranged for a photographer we often work closely with to do the pictures, and gave him a time and place where we would be. Then, as TJ and I walked down the
road doing our own thing, he took a series of natural-looking photos that got picked up in the press the next day – job done!

I have also got involved in doing photos like this when, for example, we are doing beach shots. There is nothing worse than being pictured in a bikini at a strange angle, or just as you breathe
out, or squint into the sun. So if I know I am going on holiday, I will often arrange with a photographer to be pictured over one afternoon. We make the pictures as natural as possible, and I just
do whatever I would be doing normally, but afterwards I look at the photos before they are sent to the press and choose the ones I think are best. This means I can make sure no photos are going out
that I don’t like – and I can also relax for the rest of the holiday because I know that people won’t be taking pictures without me knowing, as the value of any photos will have
gone down after the first set have gone to print.

This may seem like a strange thing to people not in the industry, but from the inside it honestly seems to make sense. And I can say that the majority of celebrities are doing set-up pictures. I
hear about it happening all the time. For me, the rule is to only do it in situations that are real anyway – I would never do a set-up picture of something that was not actually true in my
life. In the end, image is such an important part of any ongoing TV career, and it would be naïve not to try to control it as much as possible.

The one place I do have total control over what photos go out to my fans is Twitter. I have got quite into the website, and I love putting up photos of clothes, or friends, or me doing
something, as it is a great way to share stuff. But, like all these things, I have learned along the way by making mistakes!

At my twentieth birthday I tweeted a picture of me and my friends in our knickers but topless after a spray tan. It was a pre-party girls’ sleepover, and we had a great evening. I tweeted
saying what we were doing and that I couldn’t wait for my birthday, and loads of fans replied asking for a picture, so I just put it up. I only had about 50,000 followers at the time, and I
don’t think I realised the impact it would have. Funny comments from other Twitter users were about all I expected.

But we woke up hungover the next day to see the picture in all the papers. All my friends were like ‘Oh my God’ but I just had to laugh about it. And I have learned from it – I
understand the impact these things can have, so I wouldn’t do it again.

That was just me being naïve, but if people with more experience do something like that, it really is just attention seeking, and I would feel very uncomfortable doing something like that
now that I know better. It annoys me when people do things just to get photographed. For example, I remember Lauren Pope grabbing me in the street once and kissing me on the lips in front of
photographers as we left an event. I was shocked, but the paps took the photo, and of course it was picked up in the press the next day. I was annoyed by it – that is not the kind of thing I
want people to think I need to do to get publicity. Perhaps I am more grounded than some of the cast because I have a close family around me, whereas people like Lauren Goodger and Lucy Meck
don’t, which is a shame. But I know my own boundaries and what I am happy with and I do my best to stick to that.

As far as interviews go, I have got used to them now as well. And to be honest, most of the journalists are really nice to us. They don’t over-analyse the show, but accept it for what it
is. Actually I think most of them are fans of it, so we just end up having nice conversations instead of getting grilled about difficult stuff. I think they realise we are probably quite good role
models. But it is still weird for me to be asked really personal questions by someone I don’t know well or have just met, like things about my family or sex life. But I realise they are just
doing their job, and it is part of being famous.

We didn’t really get any media training or advice on what to say when we did our first interviews, but there were ITV press officers for
TOWIE
listening in on the chats, I guess
to make sure we didn’t say anything we shouldn’t. I have quite a good head for what to say and what to keep secret though. I was quite clued up from day one about what could be twisted
or taken to mean something else, so I never had too many of those kinds of issues. Some of the cast weren’t though – and still aren’t even now, to be honest. Some people get it,
some learn along the way and some people will never quite grasp it.

But, oh my God, the only answer I regretted giving in the early days was about who my celebrity crush was. Every journalist asked that question, and I told them all Plan B and really gushed
about him. So it appeared in all their articles, and it sounded like I was a bit obsessed! But I guess it was good I got it out there – and I have since found out that he knows about it . . .
I got to go back stage at one of his concerts, and one of my friends was like ‘Oh, Sam fancies you,’ and he was like ‘Yeah, so I’ve read.’ Very embarrassing! We have
seen eachother at several events since then, and always get on well. At the Brit Awards this year, the newspapers implied that we were flirting but really we were just hanging out and having fun. I
think we are both too focused on our careers to be looking for a relationship with each other, but he’s a lovely guy, so you never know – one day perhaps!

I get asked some questions over and over again. The most common one is: ‘How has your life changed since the show started?’ And I always have pretty much the same answer. I tend to
say something along the lines of ‘In some respects, massively. I have got fans and people want to take photos of me. But the core things are the same – my friends and my family. I still
sit around the table and have dinner with my family, the way I always have done, so in that way life is just as normal as ever.’

I also get asked a lot about why Essex is so much fun, about clubbing and about my beauty routine. But I don’t get bored talking about it – it’s my life and I love it!

Another common question is ‘Is your main thing in life men and money?’ I think it is a hard one because really the answer is ‘I suppose it is.’ But the question is asked
in a way that makes it sound as if that’s a bad thing. However, think about it – obviously I would like to settle down at some point and, honestly, everyone (not just in Essex) wants to
earn money. I think women in Essex are now more ambitious than the men. We want to be powerful, we want to be at the same level as the boys. We want what they have but better – so if a man
gets a Range Rover, a girl will get one but with a better spec. And most Essex women, when they set their mind on something, will succeed, trust me. Just wait and see what else I have my mind set
on!