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I've finally found my happy place
Denise Van Outen explains why she's stopped flashing her boobs at Prince Charles and is madly in love with her toy boy
Reproduced from June 08 issue of Cosmopolitan magazine. This month's issue on sale now.
'Oh my God, I'm turning into my mum,' laughs Denise Van Outen, tucking into a bowl of chilli peanuts at London's Soho Hotel. We're discussing the dangers of drugs and, more specifically, the worrying message Pete Doherty and co are sending out.
'I couldn't believe it when I opened the paper the other day and saw a massive picture of Amy Winehouse, completely off her face,' she says. 'What bothered me was that in the corner was a tiny story congratulating Leona Lewis for storming the US charts. If you ask me, we should be bigging her up, not people who are struggling with drugs. God, and to think I thought I was wild when I was younger. Now I hear stories and I'm like, 'I'd never do that!'
It's a world away from the raucous, rebellious Denise of the late '90s - the one who famously flashed her boobs at Prince Charles and stole an ashtray from Buckingham Palace.
But while she might have traded in her laugh-a-minute party-girl status, rest assured she's lost none of her sparkle in the process. Now dating Any Dream Will Do winner Lee Mead, 27, (Denise got together with him five months after judging him on the hit BBC1 show), she looks better than ever.
In fact, she's the happiest we've seen her in a long time - and that's despite her getting up at 4am for her London Capital breakfast show with Johnny Vaughn (which, by the way, is killing her). So, what's her secret? Here, Denise reveals the life lessons she's picked up over the years...
1. There's no big secret to everlasting love
'My parents have been married for 40 years, and guess what their secret is? That there is no secret! It's just about making a simple choice at every crossroads - do I stay or do I go. I've seen my mum scream at my dad, and she's packed her bags and gone off to my nan's for the night, saying, 'I'm not coming back.' But she always did.
'Now they're grandparents and their relationship has gone full circle - they're like teenagers again. There was a time when everything my dad did was wrong, but now if I make a comment about him, Mum'll go, 'Don't talk about your father like that!'
'From what I've seen, it's about not giving up, which is hard because we live in a society where there's always a way out.
A couple of friends who are married, or in long-term relationships, have said to me, 'It's just not working. I mean, I still love him but it's just not right,' or 'We're not having as much sex as we used to.' And I'm like, 'But these are the things that happen in every relationship!' Maybe it's different for me because I've never had an issue with sex. To me, it's there to be enjoyed - and I've enjoyed it! And I can't say I've learnt anything from it because I knew it all already.
'I also think it's important to stay together for your kids and the impact you'll have on them in the future. Lee's the first guy I've been with whose parents are still together, and it's made the biggest difference. Most of my exes would think it was over every time you had a row. You need to hang on in there because the good things far outweigh the bad.'
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