Strictly host Tess Daly’s real name revealed as she admits not even husband Vernon calls her it
STRICTLY Come Dancing's Tess Daly has revealed her real name - and admitted only her mum calls her it.
The 52-year-old star was actually born Helen but changed her name to Tess at the start of her modelling career.
Tess/Helen - who has never officially changed it because it would be "disrespectful" to her parents - said her mother Sylvia is the only person still using the old name.
The presenter previously told : "My mum's really the only person who still calls me Helen, and that's not often.
"She tends to call me 'love', so when she does say 'Helen' it can take me a while to respond."
Tess explained that when she started work as a model aged 17 there was a model called 'Helen Davies' on the books of her agency - and was told to change her name because it was too similar.
She added: "My agent was obsessed with [the actress] Nastassja Kinski at the time, who was in the film Tess, and thought I looked like her.
"So Tess it was. I was gullible and impressionable. Mind you, two weeks later I was in Japan then travelled the world. Paris, Milan, New York."
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She added: "I've never changed it by deed poll or anything because I think it would be disrespectful to my parents."
Tess, who married fellow TV star Vernon Kay under her real name back in 2003, is famed for co-hosting Strictly.
She fronts the BBC dancing competition Claudia Winkleman, 50.
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