Good Clean Billie ; When Billie Piper Became Mrs Chris Evans, You Could Hear the Snorts of Derision Across the Land. But It Seems Billie Is Having the Last Laugh

Summary

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Billie Piper has been up since 6.30am, but she looks rested and relaxed sitting on the bare floorboards of the studio in the East End where our photo shoot is happening. She chose to get up early so that she could stay with her husband, Chris Evans, at their Lutyens- style house, Hascombe Court near Godalming, Surrey, rather than their Knightsbridge flat. She's off to New York tomorrow. 'I'm going with the girls,' she says, 'and I'm taking all those outfits that I'm too scared to wear in England, like tutus and pink tights. And I've got a new hairdo,' she adds, running her fingers through a thick brown fringe and blonde bob inspired, she tells me, by Sophie Dahl's new hair. 'I'm so excited because when I last went I was only 17 and wasn't old enough to party. This time I can really experience the club scene.'

Unbelievably for someone who's been around for so long, Billie has only just turned 21. The eldest of four children (she has a brother, Charlie, 14, and two sisters, Harley, 12, and Ellie, ten), she was a provincial girl with big ideas. She persuaded her builder father and housewife mother to send her to Sylvia Young Theatre School in London (alumni include Victoria Beckham and Emma Bunton). 'I was so ambitious,' she says with a grin. 'I don't know where it came from, except that I didn't want to stay trapped in Swindon.' Billie set about planning her escape very early. 'I went to my parents with a list of the reasons why I wanted to go to stage school and said, "This is what I want to do with my life." '

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Good Clean Billie ; When Billie Piper Became Mrs Chris Evans, You Could Hear the Snorts of Derision Across the Land. But It Seems Billie Is Having the Last Laugh

She was just 12.

While she was at Sylvia Young's, Billie was spotted by Hugh Goldsmith, managing director of Innocent Records, who was looking for a singer to take on the Spice Girls. He's said: 'Her vocals were absolutely beautiful. She had a great tone she sounds a little black and soul.' At the age of 14, Billie signed a three-album deal. At 15, she had a number-one hit with 'Because We Want To'.

Two more number ones followed and an album, Honey to the B, went double platinum...

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