Sunday Mirror 4 April 2004

TRUTH BEHIND MY PAP PIX: Linsey Dawn McKenzie

Words: Julie Burniston.
Pics: Use your imagination

Michael Greco and I were still engaged when this picture was taken. We were having a leisurely stroll near his home in Highgate, North London. I look back on my time with Michael with great fondness - we were very much in love. Luckily we’ve managed to remain great friends. I hold my dog, Shea, very close to my heart too. She’s a Staffordshire bull terrier and she’s eight now. I bought her when she was just five weeks old with the money from my very first modelling job.

This was taken at the opening of a club called Mai Tai in London. I was about to leave when Jodie Marsh’s brother, Jordan (unfortunate name!), came to say goodbye. He’s gorgeous, and we were both single at the time, so I thought, “Why not have a bit of fun?” I wasn’t aware there were any paparazzi around to immortalise our snog. It was a one-off kiss, but I still remember it - Jordan was a pretty good snogger.

Here I am with (left to right) Jordan’s ex-manager Dave Read, Dean Gaffney, Jordan and Gary Lucy. The other guy is a model called Tom, a friend of Gary’s. I’m not sure which club this was taken in, but it makes me laugh because Jordan is pulling a face as if to say, “I wonder what else I can copy Linsey on?” That’s all I want to say about Jordan really and I wouldn’t like to comment on her sacking Dave as her manager. I really like Dave and I’ve known him longer than Jordan - since I was 15. This picture is really about me having fun with my friends. I’ve known Gary and Dean for years as well, and we are still so close.

I love a girlie night out and here I’d persuaded my good friend Alicia Douvall to come to a club called Tantra. But we’d had a huge row just before this picture was taken and were in the middle of trying to make peace. I can be really fiery and forceful when I’m angry, and poor Alicia had been on the receiving end of some pretty harsh words. It didn’t help that her ex-boyfriend (on the left) was trying to chat me up. But I told him where to go, and Alicia and I made up.

I look so happy in this photo. It makes me sad to see it now - what started as the happiest day of my life was to end in divorce just 10 months later. My husband, Terry Canty, and I were both just 21 - perhaps too young for marriage. We soon discovered our personalities clashed and we had to part. I’m single now and looking for love. I’d like to get married again, but I want the whole knight in shining armour package. At the moment I’m concentrating on a new TV career. I’ll still do the odd modelling job, but I want people to see another side of me. After that’s established, I’d like to settle down and be a wife again - and a mum. I can see myself with babies in the future.

Ah, my lovely sister Alyson. She’s 30 and a full-time mum, and we are extremely close. She used to be a dancer, which explains her great figure. These days she has her hands full with her children, but she still loves to let her hair down and go clubbing too. Here, we’re coming out of the London club Click, and are playing up to the paparazzi. I have a great relationship with the paps - I count a lot of them as friends. I’m never annoyed if they appear when I’m out and about. They have a job to do so I just give them a few shots, then go about my business. It’s cool.

“Make Love Not War” was the slogan for an anti-war campaign I became involved with last year. People just see me as a topless model, but I will always go to an event if it means I can help raise money for charity. I even made a cast of my chest - well, at 38GG, it is my most famous asset (and completely natural), so I used it to raise money. It made £170 when it was auctioned on eBay. I can’t imagine who would have it on display in their lounge, but I suppose there’s no accounting for taste.

Linsey