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I grew up with Noel Gallagher & Kate Moss in the house but my life is different now, says first plus size Miss England
Milla is campaigning for children to learn CPR in schools following two family tragedies
MILLA MAGEE is the first plus-size beauty to win Miss England – but that is not the only way she bucks the celebrity trend.
The size 16 pageant queen grew up rubbing shoulders with some of rock’s wildest stars and is the goddaughter of Noel Gallagher’s first wife, Meg Mathews.
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But despite her mum Katrina Russell reportedly dating former Take That hunk Robbie Williams — plus Paul Weller and actor Ray Winstone being among their friends — Milla, 23, has no interest in a showbiz lifestyle.
Instead, she works as a beach life-guard who champions healthy, natural living and wants to save lives by promoting CPR.
Her crucial day job comes despite her father, Brenhan Magee, owning a string of swanky restaurants and bars, including the one where TV’s Made in Chelsea is often filmed.
Single Milla, who is now set to represent England at next year’s Miss World competition, does not drink or do drugs and snubs raucous London parties.
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‘Girls would get nasty’
She tells The Sun: “I always felt like the outsider, I was never a party girl. I never drank and I never did drugs, and I was born into a world where there was a lot of that.
“Not that my parents did.
“But they were in careers that were heavily surrounded by it, and, growing up, I guess I always told myself I had to conform.
“But really, at the end of the day, I just wanted to be in nature.”
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Milla, a previous Miss Newquay, grew up in the capital’s celebrity hotspot, Primrose Hill, but has been living in Cornwall for the past eight years.
She was crowned Miss England in Wolverhampton on Friday night at the end of a competition which aimed to show there were different ways of being beautiful.
I’m the shortest Miss England finalist at exactly 5ft - petite girls can be models too, I’m one of 12 siblings & they’re all behind me
Among the finalists were contestants with acne and blemished skin.
Miss England included an Instagram Versus Reality campaign which encouraged people to post images of their true selves rather than ones which had been digitally enhanced.
Milla — who was wished well in her pageant journey by Prince William — has told how she was bullied at school over her weight and height.
In fact, the taunts got so bad, she would crouch to make herself look smaller. Now, though, the 6ft winner, who weighed 14st in her teens, is having the last laugh.
With Miss England, it’s not about the looks. It is the beauty from within
She says: “I went to an all-girls school. There was bullying — the girls at that time would get quite nasty.
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“We’ve created this idealised picture of what a woman should look like over the years and I guess I tried to fit into a box.
“Growing up, in school I would lower my legs. But with Miss England, it’s not about the looks. It is the beauty from within.”
This year’s competition had been blasted by some critics for being too woke after the famous swimwear round was dropped.
Milla, who often posts images on her social media pages of herself in beach gear, thinks it could return in a different form. She says: “Swimwear is part of my career, but I supported there being no swimwear round.
“Maybe it can come back in future years, giving the girls the choice of what they want to wear, and not be classed a bikini round. Girls should think it’s okay to wear swimsuits if they want to. We are what we are born with.
“It should be done in a healthy and body-positive way.”
Milla’s mum Katrina has been pals with Noel’s ex Meg since she was a teenager.
She got herself a job as a personal assistant in Creation Records, which signed Oasis, and worked her way up through the industry. She now runs her own record label.
Creation’s founder Alan McGee is another of Milla’s godparents.
Meg and Noel, who married in 1997, were famous for their wild partying but split up in 2001.
I always felt like the outsider, I was never a party girl
Despite that, the former Oasis guitarist is still pals with Katrina, and Milla got the chance to photograph him on his band High Flying Birds’ most recent tour.
She is also close to the stars of Made in Chelsea through dad Brenhan, whose Broadway Bar And Grill was a popular haunt for the reality show’s wealthy jet-setters.
‘So honoured’
She says: “I’d go from school to the bar and then they’d all be filming.
“So I got quite close and still speak to Cheska [Hull], one of the originals.
“And we had good friends such as Sam Thompson as well, and Ray Winstone.”
Her family is also said to know the likes of model Kate Moss and Brit Hollywood star Jason Statham.
But Milla insists she did not pay much attention to who was hanging around their home when she was younger.
She explains: “You’re surrounded by them as a child, but you just don’t really know who they are.”
Miss England has switched its focus from looking at a contestant’s vital statistics to appreciating the good works they do.
Milla is campaigning for children to learn cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) in schools and founded an organisation called Go Far With CPR.
She is an advocate for the life- saving procedure following two family tragedies.
We’ve created this idealised picture of what a woman should look like over the years and I guess I tried to fit into a box
Milla explains: “Both of my grandfathers passed away with heart attacks.
“My auntie was present for one and the ambulance took an hour to respond to the scene. But she was unable to perform CPR or first aid because she had never been taught those skills.
“He passed away before I was born, so I never got the chance to meet him.”
During a visit to Cornwall earlier this month, Milla got to meet Prince William as he visited lifeguards at scenic Fistral Beach in Newquay.
She says: “I was so, so honoured to meet him.
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“I managed to have the opportunity to briefly say hello and tell him about my project, Go Far With CPR.
“They did say before they left, ‘We’re all rooting for you’, because I was wearing my Miss Newquay sash.”
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