Strictly’s Tess Daly turned down after trying to get daughter to become a model

Strictly’s Tess Daly turned down after trying to get daughter to become a model

Celebs

Strictly’s Tess Daly turned down after trying to get daughter to become a model

Strictly Come Dancing host Tess Daly says she encouraged her eldest daughter Phoebe, 16, to become a model just like she did back in her teenage years

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Strictly Come Dancing host Tess Daly has revealed she urged her eldest daughter Phoebe to become a model just like she did in her teens.

The TV star told The Saturdays songstress Frankie Bridge how she gave Phoebe, 16, the chance to meet up with her former agents in a bid to give her a boost into the modelling industry.

She explained on Frankie’s Open Mind podcast: “Phoebe is an inch taller than me and she’s gorgeous. I said to her, ‘You know, you could go and meet my old modelling agents’.”

But Tess, 51, was greeted with a different response by her daughter.

The star continued: “She said, ‘Mum I don’t want to do that, I want to be a businesswoman or an actress’.”

Tess shares Phoebe and Amber, 11, with her husband Vernon Kay, 46, who has just finished a challenging stint on I’m A Celeb.

The doting mother added that she would support the decision if her children ever wanted to chase a modelling career.

She said: “If they ever did want to model, I wouldn’t stop them but I would accompany them as much as I could.

“I would hand-hold them through the process.”

Tess began modelling when she was aged 17.

Her first big job was in Japan after she was scouted outside a McDonald’s in Manchester while waiting for her sister.

However it wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows for Tess, as she also touched on the harsh comments she received over her body and what clothes she was wearing.

“When I was modelling I had agents who sort of would take me to one side on a Friday afternoon and they would say to me, ‘Putting a little bit of weight on aren’t you? I can see you look a bit wider in those jeans,’ she recalled.

“I would look at myself and I think, ‘Well, actually these are the same jeans I’ve been wearing for months and they fit the same on me.’

“I would take it and feel a bit uneasy the next time I had a Kit Kat but then three weeks later the same agent would say to me, ‘Oh you look like you’ve lost a bit of weight. Don’t lose too much.’

“And I thought, ‘I haven’t changed. This is your perception of me and this is not reality.’

“But I saw other girls who took that on more than I did. I had two feet on the ground and it’s not easy. I saw others girls with eating disorders and the likes.”

After dealing with a lifetime of hardships in the industry, Tess is determined to help her daughters if they wanted to take the same path.

The star has travelled to and lived in Paris, London and New York throughout her modelling days.

But now she’s happily married and settled down with Vernon and their two kids.

Vernon came third on the ITV reality series I’m A Celeb and is now at home with his loved ones.