Abi Titmuss

Abigail Evelyn Titmuss, best known as Abi Titmuss, (born 8 February 1976 in Ruskington, Lincolnshire) is a former English nurse turned glamour model, television personality and actress.

Early life

Abi Titmuss grew up in Heckington, Lincolnshire where her parents were teachers, and she took her A-levels at Kesteven and Sleaford High School where she played the clarinet. She briefly dated cartoonist BP Perry before moving to Ruskington. Her parents divorced when she was 17, and her father moved to Argyll, Scotland, where he re-married. Her mother is secretary of Sleaford Museum trust.

Nursing career

Titmuss graduated from City University in St Bartholomew's Hospital in 1998. She did a nursing diploma because her A levels were not good enough to be a doctor , and became a staff nurse at London's University College Hospital.

Titmuss had been dating TV presenter John Leslie since 1998, when in 2002 Ulrika Johnsson wrote in her autobiography that an unnamed television presenter had sexually assaulted her earlier in her television career. Shortly afterwards, Matthew Wright named (apparently accidentally) John Leslie as the alleged perpetrator on his Five.tv television chat show The Wright Stuff. Titmuss was then resultantly brought into the media spotlight when photographed with Leslie returning from working a night shift, and after this point her picture appeared regularly in British newspapers. She was then photographed always supporting Leslie in his court case, dress demurely but stylishly in black, and waiting supportively in the background

 

Glamour career

Shortly after Leslie was cleared, a private sex tape featuring Titmuss and Leslie was released on the Internet. As speculation mounted, Titmuss abandoned her career as a nurse and became a glamour model.In her own words to Sunday Mirror:

“

I'm not like those glamour girls who say: 'I'm really dirty, I'm really bad', then just pose around. I really am dirty and bad - I love sex.

”

She took up presenting on pornographic channel Television X, released a fitness video, authored an erotic novel published by Black Lace, and made personal appearances in nightclubs all over the UK and Ireland. After a photo shoot opportunity offered by FHM of a two page spread, she eventually was featured in a three page spread and made the cover. In the following year, she made 38 front page appearances in 2004 and 2005 for many UK men's magazines, such as FHM , Nuts, Zoo Weekly, loaded, GQ and Maxim magazines, others such as The Sunday Times Style and topless on page 3 of several tabloid newspapers including The Sun, News Of The World, Daily Mirror, The People and Daily Star. Titmuss was voted by readers as #7 in FHM 100 Sexiest Women in the World 2005, and wrote a regular sex advice column for the magazine. In December 2004, Titmuss appeared on the front cover of FHM magazine with Victoria Silvstedt. At the height of her fame in 2004/2005, she could command up to £30,000 a day for appearing on the front page of Nuts or Zoo.

She appeared on ITV1's Celebrity Love Island. Her other television work includes training as a chef on the 2004 series of Hell's Kitchen, and in 2005, she appeared on Channel 4's The Friday Night Project as a regular guest feature, and in "Abi Titmuss: A Modern Day Morality Tale", a fly-on-the-wall documentary for Channel 4. She has also starred on Channel 4's Come Dine With Me with Paul Ross, Lesley Joseph, Linda Lusardi and Rodney Marsh but did not find it a happy experience.

In 2005, Titmuss appeared in a high fashion shoot in Pop magazine, which commented on her status as the face of 21st century celebrity.

After taking a break from modelling work, Titmuss relaunched her glamour career as a brunette with an appearance on the cover of Zoo magazine and the sale of the official Abi Titmuss Calendar 2007. On 25 April 2007, it was announced that Titmuss had made an appearance for a third year running in FHM's annual 100 Sexiest Women in the World readers' poll, at #80 (#7 in 2005, #95 in 2004).

After announcing in late 2007 that she would take a break from her glamour modelling career to concentrate on acting, Titmuss returned with a new Nuts shoot in April 2009