‘I'm Guilty Of Thinking I'm Not Good Enough'

Denise Van Outen on dealing with imposter syndrome and feeling absolutely thrilled about going back on stage

- Ellie Kirwin-Jones

If there’s one thing that’s fair to say about Denise Van Outen, it’s that she’s certainly not workshy. Not only does she have a new series of Celebrity Gogglebox around the corner, she recently appeared in The Celebrity Circle, and she put in a brave performance on Dancing On Ice before having to pull out because a fall during training left her with fractured bones and a partially dislocated shoulder.

“I’m still having physio,” she tells us when we catch up on the phone. “Annoyingly, muscles take longer to repair than bones so it’s a bit of a slow process.”

And now the star, who turns 47 this week, is back doing what she loves – treading the boards for new musical show Cabaret All Stars.

Denise is planning to marry her fiancé Eddie Boxshall next year, after delaying their wedding from this summer due to the pandemic. She is mum to 11-year-old Betsy with her ex, West End star Lee Mead, and she tells us that with Eddie’s two children from a previous relationship, they’re happy just as they are. “We did talk about kids at one point but we just love our life.”

Here, the former Big Breakfast presenter talks about rising above the trolls and why she'll be emotional when she returns to the stage…

Hi, Denise! How did you feel during more than a year of lockdowns?