Post by Alisha Meehan on Jun 1, 2008 2:03:58 GMT 12
I know this ones long but when I was reading it I didn't want to stop I was really enjoying it! I've enjoyed typing it too, Amanda is very interesting with a great personality, a lovely husband and a beautiful daughter!!!! 
v v v v
You need nerves of steel to work alongside Simon Cowell and Piers Morgan. So where does Amanda Holden get her self-assurance from? As she tells Leah Hardy, by pounding the pavements, preaching the words of Gok Wan and plaster casting her bum!
'I just know everyone is gonna hate me for this,' Wails Amanda Holden when I ask her the secret to her amazing body. 'But I'm in better shape now than I was before I had my daughter.' And while we're sure we're not the only women who are greener than Kermit the Frog covered in pond gunk at this admission, you simply can't loathe the 37 year old for it. Because while she's slim, amazingly wrinkle-free and happily almost-married with a georgous two-year-old daughter Lexi, she's also funny and so lovely and refreshingly unpretentious that you can't fail to adore her like a long-lost best friend.
No wonder Simon Cowell and Piers Morgan, her fellow judges on the unmissable ITV1 show Britain's Got Talent, look so happy with her sandwhiched between them. But this year, she says she won't be crying when she hears the contestants sing (as she did with last year's winner Paul Potts). 'I think I've toughened up, actually, I'm not so caught up in the contestants hopes and dreams like I was last year, although I do still have tearful moments. It's a very moving show.'
And are Simon and Piers as mean-willed in real life? 'I love Simon, but he really isn't interested in anyone except himself,' she laughs. 'I can chat to Piers about my family, but Simon's happiest talking about work. I tell him about Lexi and he honestly couldn't be less interested. Simon's favourite thing ever is to wind me up-that makes his day.'
She also reveals how fiercely competitive her fellow judges are. While both generously sponsored Amanda's recent London Marathon run to raise money for the Born Free Foundation, Simon gave £1,000, so then Piers donated £1,000.01.
But it's reassuring to hear Amanda talk about running the London Marathon because it proves she's done more than just sit on her judge's chair to get that incredible, wobble-free body. So while she weighs 8st 71bs (she's a smidge over 5ft 4ins) and is a size 8-10, she has spent the last six months going for 7am runs five times a week. 'Running has toned me up, but I thought it would make me super skinny and it hasn't,' she responds when I ask her how all that exercise has changed her body.
'In fact, I've actually put on a few pounds, either due to gaining more muscle or because it's made me addicted to giant cakes and lattes! While I'm normally pretty healthy, and eat lots of fish, vegetables and pasta, I eat way more sugar when I'm running. I'm burning it all off, though.'
So how did she find the motivation to get out of bed-to leave her lovely, warm duvet behind and run out the door at a time when only the milkman was out and about? 'I like excersie, and it's a smug feeling to have run seven miles before 8am, but I will be honest and say it's bloody boring by yourself! So, so dull. What I discovered is that I need someone to talk to, so if I didn't have my amazing trainer with me, I'd drag Chris out. And if he couldn't come, I would crank up Abba really loud on my ipod. But I did find it hard to get out there, particularly when it was cold, dark and I couldn't see one foot in front of the other. And running in hail was like having a bloody face peel!'
'Chris says I do feel different now, though. I'm firmer, apparently!' she laughs. 'I used to do gymnastics and my mustles seem to have retained the memory of all those years of excersie. I also think that's why I bounced back after having lexi,' she continues. 'My tummy was flatter after she was born and I never had morning sickness or got stretch marks. All I have to show is my Caesarean scar. Sorry!'
'I was secretly happy I needed a Caesarean'
Amanda had a condition called Placenta Praevia, where the placenta is in the wrong place so she couldn't give birth naturally. But as she says, that didn't worry her. 'I called it my placenta prada,' she jokes. 'And to be honest, I would have opted for a Caesarean anyway, as I've never fancied natural childbirth. Yup,' she laughs, 'I really am far to posh to push! I was secretly quite delighted when they told me I had to have a Caesarean for medical reasons, because it's a bit more acceptable, isn't it?'
As it happened, an infection meant Lexi had to be born a few weeks early. 'My waters were leaking, so she had to come out. She was due at the begining of February 2006, but arrived in January. I was pleased she picked her own birthday, and there was an element of surprise. However, I was a bit disappointed that she just missed being an Aquarius like me. In the end, the cord was wrapped around her neck three times, so I'm extra pleased I had a Caesarean! She was born healthy and it was a scary but fantastic experience. Lexi is just the perfect little girl,' Amanda contiues. 'It's been brilliant becoming a mum. Massively life changing, of course, and you never stop thinking about your child-but she's so funny, stubborn and forthright (I can't imagine who she takes after!), and we really enjoy her. She's started to do lovely things, like taking my face in her hands and saying, "Are you OK, mama?"'
So will Lexi be getting a brother or sister soon?
Maybe after Amanda's Christmas wedding?
'Oh yes!' she replies, without hesitation. 'We'll probably think about it next year. It's definately something we want to do.' But it seems that family life isn't the only thing Amanda is very happy with. She's one of those rare women who really likes her body and admits she'd happily do a nude scene. 'If I'd waxed first!' she quickly adds. Of course, it helps if you look like she does, but Amanda clearly thinks we ought to stop all this body bashing. 'Most women don't have as much body confidence as they should. I love the Dove ads and Gok Wan on How to look good naked. We all have to realize it's how you feel inside that counts. Women need to accept themselves. I have friends of all different sizes and every one of them is equally as georgous.' So is there anything she'd like to change? 'My toes-they're like wall's thingytail sausages,' she laughs. But she doesn't criticise any body part at home, because she thinks it's important to instil body confidence in her dughter from a young age. 'I hope Lexi grows up with the assurance she has now. I give her good food, such as fish and vegetables, and she loves unusual things like olives and taramasalata. She has chocolate as I don't want to make it this big, forbidden thing and I want her to be a normal child. I mean, I ate sweets as a kid and I'm OK. When she goes to a party she can eat what she likes. I think exercise boosts your body confidence and it produces endorphins, which make you feel great. So when Lexi's older I'm going to encourage her to play sport.'
'I never worried about my health until I had Lexi'
Being a mum has clearly given her a new take on life, but it's also made her more concerned about her health for the first time. 'I never worried about it until I had her; now I want to live forever and never leave her. I'm always checking my breasts for lumps. I also sometimes panic and think, "Why am I tired? Am I ill?" before remembering I've been doing loads of exercise, I take iron supplements, glucosamine for my joints and vitamin C for my immunity because I want to stay well.'
Does she worry about age creeping up on her? 'No,' she says, 'But I'm never going to look old, either! I want to have every kind of enhancement and surgery possible! If it's there, I'll pay for it. I don't believe actresses who say they'd never have surgery. You can't possibly know what's going to happen to your body and how you'll feel about it.' So has she succumbed to the temptation of Botox and fillers yet? Amanda grins. 'Look, I'm not admitting to anything, but I don't know a single actress my age who hasn't.'
However, for all her talk of cosmetic surgery, Amanda is clear that her 30's has been the best decade of her life. 'I've met Chris, had a baby, run a marathon and my career has gone in directions I never imagined,' she smiles.
'Becoming a parent has been brilliant and I'm definately the happiest I've ever been. I feel grown up and I'm with a man whose possitive, georgous and makes me laugh every day. I love to relax at home with him, usually with a big glass of wine, watching Katie & Peter or Desperate Housewives.
Away from the show, I have a completely normal life, it revolves around walking the dogs, putting Lexi to bed and staying in with Chris. Tonight we're having fish and chips. The only worry I have about the future is that the present is going so well, so how can it get any better?'
We'll be watching this space.....
v v v v
You need nerves of steel to work alongside Simon Cowell and Piers Morgan. So where does Amanda Holden get her self-assurance from? As she tells Leah Hardy, by pounding the pavements, preaching the words of Gok Wan and plaster casting her bum!
'I just know everyone is gonna hate me for this,' Wails Amanda Holden when I ask her the secret to her amazing body. 'But I'm in better shape now than I was before I had my daughter.' And while we're sure we're not the only women who are greener than Kermit the Frog covered in pond gunk at this admission, you simply can't loathe the 37 year old for it. Because while she's slim, amazingly wrinkle-free and happily almost-married with a georgous two-year-old daughter Lexi, she's also funny and so lovely and refreshingly unpretentious that you can't fail to adore her like a long-lost best friend.
No wonder Simon Cowell and Piers Morgan, her fellow judges on the unmissable ITV1 show Britain's Got Talent, look so happy with her sandwhiched between them. But this year, she says she won't be crying when she hears the contestants sing (as she did with last year's winner Paul Potts). 'I think I've toughened up, actually, I'm not so caught up in the contestants hopes and dreams like I was last year, although I do still have tearful moments. It's a very moving show.'
And are Simon and Piers as mean-willed in real life? 'I love Simon, but he really isn't interested in anyone except himself,' she laughs. 'I can chat to Piers about my family, but Simon's happiest talking about work. I tell him about Lexi and he honestly couldn't be less interested. Simon's favourite thing ever is to wind me up-that makes his day.'
She also reveals how fiercely competitive her fellow judges are. While both generously sponsored Amanda's recent London Marathon run to raise money for the Born Free Foundation, Simon gave £1,000, so then Piers donated £1,000.01.
But it's reassuring to hear Amanda talk about running the London Marathon because it proves she's done more than just sit on her judge's chair to get that incredible, wobble-free body. So while she weighs 8st 71bs (she's a smidge over 5ft 4ins) and is a size 8-10, she has spent the last six months going for 7am runs five times a week. 'Running has toned me up, but I thought it would make me super skinny and it hasn't,' she responds when I ask her how all that exercise has changed her body.
'In fact, I've actually put on a few pounds, either due to gaining more muscle or because it's made me addicted to giant cakes and lattes! While I'm normally pretty healthy, and eat lots of fish, vegetables and pasta, I eat way more sugar when I'm running. I'm burning it all off, though.'
So how did she find the motivation to get out of bed-to leave her lovely, warm duvet behind and run out the door at a time when only the milkman was out and about? 'I like excersie, and it's a smug feeling to have run seven miles before 8am, but I will be honest and say it's bloody boring by yourself! So, so dull. What I discovered is that I need someone to talk to, so if I didn't have my amazing trainer with me, I'd drag Chris out. And if he couldn't come, I would crank up Abba really loud on my ipod. But I did find it hard to get out there, particularly when it was cold, dark and I couldn't see one foot in front of the other. And running in hail was like having a bloody face peel!'
'Chris says I do feel different now, though. I'm firmer, apparently!' she laughs. 'I used to do gymnastics and my mustles seem to have retained the memory of all those years of excersie. I also think that's why I bounced back after having lexi,' she continues. 'My tummy was flatter after she was born and I never had morning sickness or got stretch marks. All I have to show is my Caesarean scar. Sorry!'
'I was secretly happy I needed a Caesarean'
Amanda had a condition called Placenta Praevia, where the placenta is in the wrong place so she couldn't give birth naturally. But as she says, that didn't worry her. 'I called it my placenta prada,' she jokes. 'And to be honest, I would have opted for a Caesarean anyway, as I've never fancied natural childbirth. Yup,' she laughs, 'I really am far to posh to push! I was secretly quite delighted when they told me I had to have a Caesarean for medical reasons, because it's a bit more acceptable, isn't it?'
As it happened, an infection meant Lexi had to be born a few weeks early. 'My waters were leaking, so she had to come out. She was due at the begining of February 2006, but arrived in January. I was pleased she picked her own birthday, and there was an element of surprise. However, I was a bit disappointed that she just missed being an Aquarius like me. In the end, the cord was wrapped around her neck three times, so I'm extra pleased I had a Caesarean! She was born healthy and it was a scary but fantastic experience. Lexi is just the perfect little girl,' Amanda contiues. 'It's been brilliant becoming a mum. Massively life changing, of course, and you never stop thinking about your child-but she's so funny, stubborn and forthright (I can't imagine who she takes after!), and we really enjoy her. She's started to do lovely things, like taking my face in her hands and saying, "Are you OK, mama?"'
So will Lexi be getting a brother or sister soon?
Maybe after Amanda's Christmas wedding?
'Oh yes!' she replies, without hesitation. 'We'll probably think about it next year. It's definately something we want to do.' But it seems that family life isn't the only thing Amanda is very happy with. She's one of those rare women who really likes her body and admits she'd happily do a nude scene. 'If I'd waxed first!' she quickly adds. Of course, it helps if you look like she does, but Amanda clearly thinks we ought to stop all this body bashing. 'Most women don't have as much body confidence as they should. I love the Dove ads and Gok Wan on How to look good naked. We all have to realize it's how you feel inside that counts. Women need to accept themselves. I have friends of all different sizes and every one of them is equally as georgous.' So is there anything she'd like to change? 'My toes-they're like wall's thingytail sausages,' she laughs. But she doesn't criticise any body part at home, because she thinks it's important to instil body confidence in her dughter from a young age. 'I hope Lexi grows up with the assurance she has now. I give her good food, such as fish and vegetables, and she loves unusual things like olives and taramasalata. She has chocolate as I don't want to make it this big, forbidden thing and I want her to be a normal child. I mean, I ate sweets as a kid and I'm OK. When she goes to a party she can eat what she likes. I think exercise boosts your body confidence and it produces endorphins, which make you feel great. So when Lexi's older I'm going to encourage her to play sport.'
'I never worried about my health until I had Lexi'
Being a mum has clearly given her a new take on life, but it's also made her more concerned about her health for the first time. 'I never worried about it until I had her; now I want to live forever and never leave her. I'm always checking my breasts for lumps. I also sometimes panic and think, "Why am I tired? Am I ill?" before remembering I've been doing loads of exercise, I take iron supplements, glucosamine for my joints and vitamin C for my immunity because I want to stay well.'
Does she worry about age creeping up on her? 'No,' she says, 'But I'm never going to look old, either! I want to have every kind of enhancement and surgery possible! If it's there, I'll pay for it. I don't believe actresses who say they'd never have surgery. You can't possibly know what's going to happen to your body and how you'll feel about it.' So has she succumbed to the temptation of Botox and fillers yet? Amanda grins. 'Look, I'm not admitting to anything, but I don't know a single actress my age who hasn't.'
However, for all her talk of cosmetic surgery, Amanda is clear that her 30's has been the best decade of her life. 'I've met Chris, had a baby, run a marathon and my career has gone in directions I never imagined,' she smiles.
'Becoming a parent has been brilliant and I'm definately the happiest I've ever been. I feel grown up and I'm with a man whose possitive, georgous and makes me laugh every day. I love to relax at home with him, usually with a big glass of wine, watching Katie & Peter or Desperate Housewives.
Away from the show, I have a completely normal life, it revolves around walking the dogs, putting Lexi to bed and staying in with Chris. Tonight we're having fish and chips. The only worry I have about the future is that the present is going so well, so how can it get any better?'
We'll be watching this space.....