Maybe now the time is right to bring back the vajazzle, says Amy Childs
AMY CHILDS has won a Bafta, become a property magnate and was one of the brains behind cult TV show Towie.
But the glamorous 29-year-old, who ran a beauty salon while filming the ITV2 show, became just as famous for bringing the nation the vajazzle.
⚠️ Read our coronavirus live blog for the latest news & updates
Now, almost ten years on from the start of Towie and with the nation in lockdown, Amy has insisted the eye-watering genital bling could be just the thing to distract us all from doom and gloom.
She told The Sun on Sunday: “Vajazzling brought so many smiles to so many faces, maybe it’s time I got back in the salon and started getting the diamante out for a while to cheer people up a bit.
“I’ll probably leave the pajazzling, which is done on blokes, to someone else, if you don’t mind.”
In an exclusive interview she reveals she is not ruling out a return to Towie, and tells how she has regained her sensational figure after giving birth and aims to be “the fittest mum in the playground”.
Single Amy — last month seen snogging a man after their first meeting on Channel 4’s Celebs Go Dating — also reveals her ideal bloke would be a cross between David Beckham and . . . her dad.
Famed for her catchphrase “Well jel!”, she first sashayed on to our screens in 2010 as one of the founding members of Essex-based reality show Towie alongside Lauren Goodger, Mark Wright and Kirk Norcross.
She was frequently seen giving treatments at her beauty salon and created a craze by sticking shaped jewels on women’s genitals — the vajazzle.
The mum of two even gave the male equivalent of the treatment to X Factor duo Jedward when she and they were among contestants on Celebrity Big Brother 2011.
She said: “The reaction I got from the vajazzles was bizarre.
“Basically it’s like having diamond teeth on your lady area. That’s what it is.
“But in my salon we didn’t just do it on that.
“We used to do it on your belly. Or you could put it on your arm.
“I brought out my own Amy Childs vajazzles and sold about 350,000.
“I did extremely well from it. I’m very good at my vajazzles.
“We sold loads in the salon.
“On a Saturday we’d do a hundred girls a day.
“I used to go out to the local bar, Sugar Hut, on Saturdays and all the girls used to get theirs out for me. I’ve seen a lot in my time.”
It was an addiction
But being in the beauty industry and appearing on TV was dangerous for Amy because she was offered endless free treatments, from lip fillers to Botox, and became addicted to cosmetic surgery.
She said: “It was an addiction, but I feel like I’ve conquered that now.
“At the time a lot of stuff was gifted to me.
“You go to salons and everything is, literally . . . you get it all free.
“I spoke a lot to my mum Julie about my surgery addiction and she’s the one who said, ‘Amy, it’s getting out of hand now.
“You think you are looking perfect, but you’re not’.
“I’ve got pictures from five, six or seven years ago and I look a different person.
“My lips are so big. I thought they looked lovely at the time. But trends change.”
She said it was getting pregnant in 2017 with daughter Polly that opened her eyes to her problem.
Amy, also mum to son Ritchie, 18 months, added: “When I had the kids I just thought it would break my heart if Polly ran to me and said, ‘I want my lips done, Mum, and dah-dah-dah’.
“So I now know what I put my mum through.
“If Polly went down the same road, I’d be heartbroken.
“I would advise differently but it’s hard when they’re 18.
“I’ll say to her she can have her nails done, have a few facials, she just can’t be having surgery done.”
Jailbird ex
Amy suffered further troubles when her builder ex, Bradley Wright, Polly’s dad, was jailed last year for arson and handling stolen goods.
But she insists her children are not missing a father figure because her own dad, Billy, has stepped in.
Amy said: “Because Polly’s dad is not around and has never ever been around, she looks at my dad.
“She absolutely idolises him and calls him dad.
“We went to Turkey and I took my mum and dad, Polly and Ritchie.
“People are looking, going, ‘Oh my God, he’s got a young bird’, and we would all be laughing.
“We found it really funny because everyone was looking.
“I love that Polly calls him Dad.
“Honestly, it makes my heart go because she loves him so much.
“People say to me, ‘Why do you let her call her grandad Dad. But in her life, he is her dad.”
Despite failed relationships — including two years with Kirk Norcross, 30 — Amy still holds out hope she will find her dream man.
She knows exactly what she wants in a fella, too.
Give now to The Sun's NHS appeal
BRITAIN’s four million NHS staff are on the frontline in the battle against coronavirus.
But while they are helping save lives, who is there to help them?
The Sun has launched an appeal to raise £1MILLION for NHS workers.
The Who Cares Wins Appeal aims to get vital support to staff in their hour of need.
We have teamed up with NHS Charities Together in their urgent Covid-19 Appeal to ensure the money gets to exactly who needs it.
The Sun is donating £50,000 and we would like YOU to help us raise a million pounds, to help THEM.
No matter how little you can spare, please donate today here
She said: “I’m looking for someone like my dad.
“I’ve always said that, someone very loving, loves children and just will love me as well. That’s what I really want.
“When I was growing up I wasn’t bothered by personality because I thought it was all about looks.
“I’ve always also said David Beckham. I’ve always had a little thing for Becks.”
Now she is older, Amy feels much more comfy in her own skin and embraces her looks.
She said: “Obviously, having two kids, your body just doesn’t ever go back to the way it was.
“There’s some days when I, like any other girl who looks in the mirror, go, ‘Oh, I could lose a little weight on my belly and everything’.
“You’re never happy with yourself. I’ve still got a mum tum.
“I’ve still got the whole little mum pack. But you know what, I embrace it.
“I was never skinny, even before I had the kids.
“I always had the curves. I’d never really want to lose my curves, and I haven’t, but I feel really confident.
“I aspire to be the fittest mum in the playground.
“I train three times a week. I’ve got a program called MumFit.
“I’m not going to lie to you, it is absolutely brilliant.
“I lost my baby weight after my little boy Ritchie.
“I did it for 20 minutes every single day for six weeks and I just felt so much better.”
MOST READ IN TV & SHOWBBIZ
Amy is now embracing the lock-down over the coronavirus because she says she “loves spending every minute with the kids”.
But she is looking ahead to the Towie ten-year anniversary in September — and not ruling out a comeback.
She said: “If there was a reunion in play, maybe, but there’s nothing guaranteed. Never say never.”
- GOT a story? RING The Sun on 0207 782 4104 or WHATSAPP on 07423720250 or EMAIL [email protected]