Denise van Outen is an actress, singer and television presenter who has enjoyed a near 40-year career in showbusiness. She started out on the stage aged 12 in Les Miserables and went on to present The Big Breakfast, narrate The Only Way Is Essex and star on Celebrity Gogglebox. She has also had starring roles on Broadway and in the West End, was runner-up in the 10th series of Strictly Come Dancing in 2012 and is mother to Betsy, 13, whose father is Denise’s ex-husband Lee Mead.
Best day of your life?
I think any mother would tell you it’s giving birth to a child. I’ve only got one daughter, Betsy, and everything just changed – everything for the better. Life just seemed to make sense in that moment. It’s the first time in your life that you learn to be less selfish. It was lovely, the sun was shining and I just felt really happy. It was what I really wanted.
Best school memory?
I got cast in Les Miserables when it first opened on the West End, but to do the show I needed to go to drama school. I got a place at Sylvia Young Theatre School when I was 11 and I remember going for my first day and just being like, “Wow, this is amazing.” It just felt like all my dreams had come true. Being a child actor, suddenly being in a school of other child actors and performers was just brilliant. I loved it. I was obsessed with watching Fame, which was a big show on TV in the 1980s, and I had always imagined theatre school would be like that and it was, with people dancing through the corridors. It was my dream.
Best relationship?
For me, it’s the mother-daughter relationship, on both sides. I think I came to value my relationship with my mum more once I had Betsy. First of all, I realised how much sheer hard work my mum had put into raising us, which you don’t appreciate until you have a child yourself. I also recognise myself in my daughter and the things she does. I go, “Wow, she gets that from me, that’s what I do!” I’m always chatting and I remember when my daughter was little she was just constantly talking and my mum said, “Have you looked at yourself? That’s what you’re like.”
Best career moment?
It would probably have to be when I played Roxie Hart in Chicago on Broadway (left). It was the fact that at that particular time in my life I had been in a show in London and done really well, but it doesn’t get bigger than Broadway. To have the opportunity to perform there and also to be a bit more anonymous because I wasn’t known in America at all. It felt like I was being judged purely on my ability rather than being “Denise off of the telly”.
Your wisest decision?
When I did The Big Breakfast in the 1990s, I got my first paycheck for a decent amount and I was thinking about buying a convertible. My dad said to me: “No, if you want to be sensible, get on the property ladder.” So that’s what I did and I bought a tiny flat in Islington in my early 20s. I have been able to keep buying and selling ever since and I’m so glad I was sensible at that age and decided not to go for a convertible.
Best celebrity encounter?
It has to be the late, great George Michael. I was always a massive fan of his and when I did The Big Breakfast he was on it and after the show we all went out for dinner. We went to a restaurant in Notting Hill and I was wearing high heels and I actually got my heel stuck underneath the table. I had Johnny Vaughan and George Michael on the floor, trying to get my foot out – everyone in the restaurant was looking at us. I think they must have wondered what Johnny and George were doing to me!
Worst fashion crime?
I have worn some really bad outfits, some real crimes against fashion. If I can go down the beauty route, I would say the overplucked eyebrows of the 1990s are something we all lived to regret.
Worst parenting mistake?
I remember once booking a very early flight on holiday because obviously it was cheaper. We woke up in the middle of the night to get there, and then on the plane I was trying to get my daughter to sleep but she just wanted to play. She ended up having a massive meltdown and really, in hindsight, I shouldn’t have tried to get her to sleep because she would have slept when she got tired. All hell broke loose.
Worst school memory?
Any sort of formal exam gave me the worst anxiety. It always felt a little bit like they were creeping up and I did struggle. I’m one of those people who find it hard to focus when there’s too much pressure. Now that I’m older, my daughter has been assessed and I know she has learning difficulties such as dyslexia and dyscalculia. I do believe I probably have the same sort of issues, I’ve just never been diagnosed and I think that would have helped me at school. If I had also had the same online tutoring Betsy does, it would have been easier for me because I could have studied at home where I could have focused more. It would have been invaluable.
Worst impulse buy?
I bought a very small little cottage in Wales after doing that stupid thing that people do on a really sunny day and saying to myself “I love it here.” I bought it when I was away for the weekend with a view of going there to find peace and tranquillity, but it needed loads of work doing and it actually was way too far of a journey to get to every weekend. In hindsight, I would have been better getting something a little closer to home.
The Worst advice anyone’s given you?
At the start of my career I had a little stab at doing pop music but it wasn’t going anywhere and I wasn’t having any success. I had been scouted to do TV presenting and I went to see the head of the management company to say I didn’t think the music was going anywhere. He said to me, “If you take that job, it’ll be the biggest mistake of your career,” and the job was The Big Breakfast. Had I listened to him, I would never have had the career I have now.
The absolute worst
What really irritates me is people on public transport with big, heavy rucksacks. They have a weapon on their backs and they don’t realise that if they turn round they can knock out a child or whack you in the face. So it’s rucksacks for me. They drive me insane.
Denise is working with GoStudent.org, an online platform offering flexible tutoring customised to address students’ special educational needs
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