MODEL ROLE
Nadia Parkes undergoes huge body transformation to play kidnapped model Chloe Ayling in new BBC drama
Nadia also reveals her reaction to first meeting Chloe
NADIA Parkes is set to play kidnapped model Chloe Ayling in a forthcoming six-part BBC drama about her 2017 abduction.
The actress has revealed that she had to undergo a drastic bodily transformation to portray the Page 3 girl, who was held captive in Italy after travelling to a fake photoshoot.
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Following her release after six days, then 20-year-old Chloe shared her story with TV reporters in her mum’s South London front garden wearing hotpants and a low-cut stripy top.
Asked about recreating the look for the new drama, Kidnapped, Nadia said: “I had to change my body shape. I had fake t*ts and dyed my hair bleach blonde.
“They also did amazing contouring so my whole face looked different. I also had to take on what that character fully went through.
“I had to really go to some crazy places.”
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Nadia, who previously dated Spider-Man actor Tom Holland, also revealed she was close to tears when she met Chloe for the first time.
She said: “It was very emotional meeting her. I felt all I wanted to do was give her a big, big hug, and I did.
“I think she was a bit alarmed, like, ‘Who is this stranger hugging me?’.
“But this story deserves to be told. I think people make a lot of assumptions about her.”
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Georgia Lester, previously a writer for Killing Eve, is behind the drama based on Chloe’s auto-biography and due to be screened later this year.
Nadia said: "I met Chloe four times so I could really take in her mannerisms, her voice and everything - it was a whole process and I had to have a physical transformation as well."
Kidnapped glamour model Chloe Ayling back on Instagram as horrifying six-day ordeal is turned into BBC drama
Asked how her family feels about her taking on the role, Nadia said: “I think they are excited, really excited.
“I don’t think they have any idea what it is going to be like. I think before now I have told them, ‘Oh I am playing this character and it is going to be…’ and they kind of expect to see a version of me - but I don’t think they are expecting to see a person that is, ‘Oh that is not my daughter.’”
Of playing Chloe, she added: “It is daunting. Playing a real life person you have to think about whether or not you are going to do it.
“You have to do it fully and you really want to embody them and do them justice. It wasn’t an easy yes.”
Nadia, who grew up in Leamington Spa, said it was hard to nail the accent, adding: "Chloe is from Croydon and then alongside that she has a lot of quirks in her own voice that were quite tricky but I got there in the end.
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