Denise Van Outen has spoken for the first time about why she quit Channel 5′s OK! TV just three days before it was due to begin.
In an emotional interview the star told me: “The simple facts are this – three days before we were due to start on air I had a meeting with the boss of the channel and I made my decision not to continue with the show following that.
“This would have really upset me before I became a mother. But I based my decision around how working for that person was going to make me feel on a daily basis. And I knew that working for him, I wasn’t going to be happy. That was enough for me to realise I needed to get out. I won’t let anyone make me feel a certain way. I can’t work in an environment like that and I want to work with nice people.”
The star, currently coming to the end of her West End run playing Paulette in Legally Blonde, admits she’s secretly happy about the way things have panned out – because now she can spend more time being a mother to ten-month-old Betsy.
But Den freely admits the biggest lesson she’s had to learn as a mother is not being selfish.
“I really struggled when Betsy was born,” Denise reveals. “People always tried to make it sound all rosy. But it wasn’t.
“I struggled because I’ve been selfish for such a large chunk of my life and such a career minded person  – so being a mother wasn’t easy for me. My career was always the most important thing. It’s been so hard to realise that I’m not the number one thing in my life – Betsy is.
“I had loads of meltdowns at the beginning. Some of my friends have been immediate earth mothers – but I’ve not been like that. I was the new mum crying my eyes out at two in the afternoon screaming down the phone at my friends. And that was a real problem. Fortunately I got through it.”
And there were far more worrying aesthetic issues for Denise, who’s married to West End star Lee Mead, to deal with after giving birth to her pride and joy.
Den was forced to ditch her entire shoe collection after pregnancy caused her feet to go from a size five to a size six. Gritting her teethshe revealed:  “Not one pair fit afterwards. It was heartbreaking. For a woman like me, that was devastating. I gave most of them to the cast of Legally Blonde.”

The star is now promoting the Comic Relief Red Nose Day campaign with Walkers and waxing comedians including Stephen Fry, Al Murray, Jimmy Carr and Frank Skinner over the next few days. Denise explained she has quite a knack for salon work – including the now infamous vagina jewel treatment, vajazzling. Denise says: “I can do a vajazzle actually. I did one last week. I went to a beauty salon and did one on someone. I’ve never had one myself though – it wouldn’t look too nice because of having a caesarean. I guess I could vajazzle along the scar line. I’ve really enjoyed waxing you today. In fact I’m considering jacking it all in and opening a beauty salon. I really think Denise Tan Outen salon has a ring to it.” I couldn’t agree more.

Denise Van Outen is the Walkers waxer in the Clash of the Comics campaign for Red Nose Day, which sees Jimmy Carr, Stephen Fry, Al Murray and Frank Skinner battle it out with their own crisp flavours to raise over £1 million and avoid a public waxing. For more info go to www.walkers.co.uk.

Annie Lennox has been on fire this week supporting International Women’s Day and on Friday night I met her before she performed at the WOW – Women of the World Festival – for women’s equality at the Southbank Centre. The legendary star waded into this week’s war of words between Simon Cowell and Elton John where Cowell branded the Rocket Man ‘greedy’ whilst appearing on Piers Morgan’s CNN chat show. Annie fumed: “Elton John’s foundation is the third top HIV/Aids organisation in the world. Wherever you go in a developing country you can’t help but stumble on one of the projects that Elton’s foundation has created. Elton John is absolutely outstanding and there is no-one who works like Elton in terms of his charitable contribution. I have no other reason for saying that other than I’ve seen it and I know what the foundation does. And it’s just ridiculous what was said. It’s just laughable. He obviously has no idea what Elton really does, none.” Good for Annie – I couldn’t agree more.

Above: Annie with the other performers on the night – VV Brown, Kate Nash and the evening’s host Miquita Oliver

This week we all got to hear Blue’s bid song for the Eurovision song contest. And it’s a corker! I Can is a great slice of euphoric pop with Lee’s trademark high vocals and an insanely catchy chorus. So make sure you all get behind them when they take it to Dusseldorf in May. I caught up with Duncan James, Lee Ryan, Simon Webbe and Antony Costa at their Eurovision press conference where they were looking in great shape and buzzing about the challenge ahead. Below they tell me about calling time on excessive partying, working with Bruno Mars and up-coming album plans.

Would you say that this is the biggest moment of your career so far?
Simon: I think it’s another opportunity. One of our biggest moments was at the Queen’s Jubilee as that only comes around once every 50 years.
Duncan: Apparently my biggest moment is meeting the Queen. That’s what it says in the biog – we need to get that out! We got asked in the interview what was the biggest highlight we’ve ever done as a band. Lee was like working with Elton John, working with Stevie Wonder, doing this, doing that and they wrote about me ‘Duncan’s was meeting the Queen’. Hey, trust me to say that… I don’t think anything could be comparable to meeting the Queen but this is a great opportunity for us and we are really excited to be representing our country. That’s just as good as meeting the Queen because it’s her country.

Maybe you can get the Queen to back your bid?
Duncan: I think she has got enough to worry about with the wedding this year. But maybe the Prince’s might – that would be cool!
Lee: Aaw, she’s so beautiful.
Duncan: Who Kate Middleton or the Queen?
Lee: Kate. She’s so pretty, so lovely.

You should have got in their sooner…
Lee: She’s royalty so I wouldn’t dare to comment!

Are you going to get any of your celebrity pals to help drum up support for you?
Anthony: I think we’ve had a few celebrity friends getting onboard as we’ve done a BBC documentary and said what they think about us doing the Eurovision and all of it has been really, really positive.
Duncan: We don’t quite know what the BBC are doing with the documentary though. We just keep doing our stuff so we will literally be seeing it when you see it. It’s a little scary. I’ll Sky+ it.
Simon: I think I’ll wait for the reaction and see if it’s good.

And how is the album getting along?
Anthony: We are nearly done.
Duncan: At the moment it’s in a really good place and we have some great stuff. I was in bed the other night listening to some of the mixes and instantly thought, ‘Wow this is a really good album’. I think this is probably going to be the best album we’ve ever done. And I think when people hear it they will say that we forgot how great Blue were and that they were known for their songs.
Lee: We don’t want to be compared to Take That, we don’t want to be compared to JLS or anyone else. We are Blue. We’ve sold enough albums and done tours to now be able to stand there in our own right.
Simon: It’s all about getting the top producers who are the best of the world – RedOne, Timberland and Stargate. I think we’ve been in the business long enough to know what kind of sound we want to create. We are now co-producing everything so we’ll just get a producer in to put their twist on it.
Lee: The great thing about this album is that we are so hands-on and I don’t think we’ve ever really done that with any of the albums.

And I hear that you’re working with Bruno Mars on new songs?
Duncan: Bruno has been so excited to be working with us.
Lee: I’ve written two songs with Bruno Mars for Blue. One is called This Is I Learnt When You Love A Woman and the other one is called Black and Blue. They’re two amazing songs and When You Love A Woman will be a massive anthem.
Duncan: What’s also really exciting is that we are now in control of the business. This is just the beginning and the first foundation. We are really excited about it all because for us it’s like we are getting a second opportunity to go back into the business again and do what we all love. But this time we are in more control of it and have our eye on the ball as last time we didn’t have a clue what was going on or what direction what ball was going in.
Lee: I never want to stop doing Blue again. I think we’ve all experienced different things which was great for us growing as people in the industry and as adults. But I think we’ve realised that we are stronger as a four and even if we did take time off after we do what we do then we will definitely be coming back again with another album. I love writing for the group and sitting in the studio making stuff for us. It’s constantly on my mind and it’s so much more fun writing for the group.

If you could have an ultimate wish-list of bands that would reunite to take part in the Eurovision in the future what would it be?
Duncan: I think the biggest band that would be amazing and who everyone would just go mad to see would be ABBA. They always said they would never get back together but wouldn’t it be wonderful? I grew up listening to them as a kid. They are probably the biggest, most successful band, come out of the Eurovision.
Lee: I’d really like to see Roxette. Apparently after what she has been through her voice is still exactly the same and she’s absolutely amazing. I’m a big fan of Roxette.

And are you making sure you are all on your best behaviour now in the run-up to Eurovision?
Antony: As much as Blue ever can be.
Lee: The most important thing for us as a group is representing the UK and doing our country proud. Anything else comes second to that.
Simon: We’re all dads and my little girl is 14 years old now. I don’t want her to read about her dad falling out of clubs and I want to set an example for her and her friends who look up to Blue. We have got a lot of responsibility and were not a young band that has to go through those stages. The novelty has worn off for us and it’s now about making great music and putting on great performances. We now want to go back out there and tour the world.

So have you called time on your partying days then?
Simon: Oh no! It’s not the end of partying as we’ll do it all in moderation now. When you’re young you don’t know how to handle it. You are sitting on six figures in your bank and you are in the best city in the world so if you have free time then you’re going to go out and party.

Any day now Gwyneth Paltrow is due to announce a big $1 million deal with Atlantic Records to release her first album. And from what I hear she’s been getting more than a little bit of help from her Coldplay husband -and award winning music writer – Chris Martin.
A pal of the pair tells me they’ve been quietly been beavering away on tracks and Chris has even written some tracks for Gwyneth over the past few months. But I’m told Chris and Gwyn were keen to ensure that she made a name for herself as a singer before they announced the fact they had been working together. My source tells me: “Chris has been working on tracks for Gwyneth for ages but he didn’t want his name and musical background to in any way interfere with people realising that she had a voice.
“He didn’t want people to say ‘Oh look Gwyneth’s just got her husband writing it all and she’s not talented’. So he reluctantly let her go it alone to begin with with the Country Strong movie and Glee. But now he’s hoping they can work together and everything will be out in the open.” Sounds like a great plan!

*Holly Willoughby popped into the Mamas and Papas 30th bash too and managed to stash a load of cute little dresses and a pram for showing face.
The This Morning star was overheard telling a shop assistant that she’s get a ‘normal’ approach to clothing during pregnancy. “Oh god yeah, I’ve recycled loads of clothes from my first pregnancy but then nothing is older than two years,” she said. “I’ve not held on to anything particularly sentimental. Although I still have my hospital robe from when I had Harry and I’d never give that away. I don’t know yet if I’d use it again for good luck.” Good luck Hols…

*Emilia Fox sounds like she’s taken to motherhood like a fish to water since having first daughter Rose four months ago. The Silent Witness star told me at the Mamas and Papas 30th Anniversary Party this week: “I’ve become one of those women who all they do is talk about her children. I used to be the person who didn’t care what their friend’s baby had eaten that day.
“But I’ve never been in better health than I am at the minute. You eat lots because you are wanting to look after yourself so you can care for someone else. Breast-feeding does wonders for losing the baby weight as does constantly running around 24\7 after Rose. I can fit back into all of my wardrobe. I don’t mind that I don’t get much sleep as I get excited about waking up and seeing her little face. Though to be fair she’s been pretty good at sleeping at night. It really is like a little hurricane comes into your life.” Bless Emilia.

*It sounds like Danielle Lloyd and Jamie O’Hara are planning on adding to their brood – although it doesn’t seem Danielle is quite so, er, game for it! Danielle laughed at the Mamas and Papas 30th bash: “If Jamie has his way then I’ll be having another baby very quickly. He’s told me that he wants four but we’ll see.” Jamie added: “I’m 24 and want to get them all out by the time I’m 30. I think if we have one after the other then we get them out the way. I don’t want to be an old dad. I’m only 24 but Danielle says I’m 24 going on 55 as I’m an old man at heart.” Just reading that makes me tired. Four?!

This is annoying, George Michael has ruled himself out becoming a permanent X Factor judge. Speaking to Bauer Radio’s In:Demand show the Faith star said: “I could never be a full-time judge – I wouldn’t rule everything out, but I could never be one of those people that has to break people’s hearts”

The singer also spoke about his tiffs with Sir Elton John overt the years and he hilariously compared him to the nan character from The Catherine Tate Show. He laughed: “Oh I’ll always love Elton, Elton can do no wrong because he did so much right for my life…. he was literally one of my mentors in every way as a child who really wanted to write and sing – Elton will always have a special place, regardless of if we have our tiffs. We all earn the right to get a bit more grumpy as we get older – but he’s getting terribly close to Nan territory, you know the Nan from Catherine Tate.” Such a bromance!

Elton John is the proudest man alive now that he and partner David Furnish have baby Zachary in their lives. The legendary star couldn’t help but gush about being a father when I met him at his legendary AIDS Foundation Oscars Viewing party last week. He beamed: “We got back Saturday morning from our first family holiday and it was fantastic. Zachary went on the beach, in the pool and on a hike with us. It was fantastic and he just loved it. He’s already a great traveller.
“David and myself alternate the late nights and the nappies. But to be honest he’s sleeping brilliantly.
But Uncle Elton laughed at speculation that Lady Gaga is going to be the Godmother and that he’s already hoping to add to his brood. He said: “There are no plans to add to the brood – we’re getting used to having one baby. And Lady Gaga isn’t Godmother – that’s just speculation – we haven’t even decided on anything like that yet.”
Elton also wished Cheryl Cole luck with her move to the States for US X Factor. He revealed: “Cheryl will do well coming to the US. I’ve never met her but I wish her all the best with the US X Factor if she does it. I know I could never do that and judge on a show like that. I can’t be horrible to people – not new people. I don’t want to judge talent and break dreams.” Good for you, Elt.

*I can reveal Kelly Osbourne is once again back on the singles market after splitting up with her man for a nanosecond Rob Damiani. “I don’t have a boyfriend right now,” she fumed at Elton John’s AIDS Foundation bash in LA. “What’s wrong with people. I stand next to a man and I’m with them. It’s boring. I’ll be dating you next if someone spots us.” That I somehow doubt, Kel. Gentlemen, start those engines. Kelly’s looking hot as hell right now.

*The team around Britney Spears is taking no chances with keeping the former raver on the straight and narrow when she commits to her world tour for later this year.
I hear all staff currently being employed for the monster worldwide tour are being forced to sign the usual bullet proof confidentiality agreements as well as a contract where they promise not to drink, do drugs or party whilst on the road. My source in the Britney camp reveals: “So they can’t even go out on their time off or go and have a drink at all! They all have to be sober as “she doesn’t want to be around anyone who’s come into contact with alcohol whatsoever or be surrounded by that environment” as “it’s just too tempting for her.”
“That’s what we’ve been told. Obviously people are lining up round the block to work with her on this tour – so we’re all having to agree to it.” Enjoy the sobriety!

*Lizzie Cundy is going from strength to strength these days with her blossoming TV career. The Movie Show – which airs weekends at 1pm on ITV2 – features Lizzie interviewing a whole host of stars. I hear Lizzie is descending upon the Cannes Film Festival where she’ll be staying on a yacht and having the stars swing by for a chat. First up – Gerard Butler. The flirting between those two will be out of control.

*Leona Lewis isn’t just sticking to working on album number three whilst in America. I hear the star has been beavering away on designs to launch her own ethical line of clothing.
As well as designing all her wacky clothes of late – including that lip style top she wore recently – the star has been sketching inbetween recording sessions and hopes to launch her label early next year.
My source tells me: “She’s a very talented designer and has really getting to grips with her designs and sketches. She’s deadly serious about being a respected fashion designer as well as a musical artist.
“She’s hoping to prove the fashion world wrong.” Good luck to her.

*Courtney Love has a new flatmate when she moves into her luxury New York apartment. Step forward Lady Victoria Hervey. Lady V tells me: ‘I’ve got on with Courtney for ages and I’m going to be renting her spare room. I want to be a bit more bi-coastal nowadays so I’m going to be going over there for a month or so soon. I want to see more of the city.” Brave, and lucky, girl.

*Louis Walsh tells me he WILL be returning to X Factor this year, despite what my misinformed rivals have claimed. Louis told me: “I’m coming back for definite. I don’t know where this rubbish about me not returning comes from. I’ve always been coming back – and so is Dannii. I can’t wait to be reunited with her.”
Lou also told me who he is desperate to see join the panel for X Factor USA – and he says Mariah Carey is his top pick for the panel. “Mariah was initially in talks with Simon, then she got pregnant,” Louis said. “But I wouldn’t be surprised if she was persuaded to join the panel. She would be great. It’s just whether Simon can persuade her to go back to work so soon after giving birth.”
I joined Louis for a drink at Chateau Marmont just as he was finishing dinner with hardman Colin Farrell (an unusual pairing or what!). And cheeky Louis told me: “Colin’s great. He’s not drinking or smoking at all these days. He’s shagging like a rabbit though.” Louis, I salute you.

*I was thrilled to join Lindsay Lohan for a drink at the Chateau Marmont last Saturday night just as she was preparing to take part in a shoot with Oscar’s host James Franco in a private villa. The star woolfed down six oysters in preparation for the steamy shoot with Terry Richardson and told me: “I can’t get enough of these things but you need prawn cocktail sauce with them.” Lindsay was sober, chain smoked throughout and seemed very upbeat considering she’s possibly facing jail soon. She even cracked a joke about running off without paying the bill and quipped: “Better make sure I pay the bill – I don’t want to end up getting arrested…..again.” Love that.

*Good news for Glee fans. Lea Michelle will soon be hitting the big screen in two new movies. First of all the star will play the love interest of Ashton Kutcher in new rom com New Year’s Eve and I can reveal she’ll then fly out to Prague in the summer to take the lead in the big screen version of the play that made her name, Spring Awakening. My mole tells me: “Lea really made her name in the show on Broadway and she’s thrilled to have landed the part in the film. She’ll be there for a couple of months in the summer.” I literally cannot wait for that one….