'I'm happier now than I've ever been!'

TV and radio presenter Amanda Holden talks about life in her 50s, her new show and female empowerment

- VICKI POWER

Amanda Holden is a poster girl for middle-aged women. At 52, she steals the show on Britain's Got Talent in head-turning frocks, and is full of the energy required for her daily pre-dawn stints on Heart Radio, with enough left over to renovate houses on Amanda & Alan's Italian Job. And she does it all while looking effortlessly glamorous in chic outfits.

Although Amanda is at an age when some women in showbiz have had trouble getting work, she's too busy defying expectations to notice. She first rose to our attention as an actor in series like Cutting It and Wild at Heart in the early 2000s, before pivoting to presenter mode after Simon Cowell chose her to be a judge on Britain's Got Talent in 2007 after Cheryl Cole pulled out.

It was being herself - bold, brassy and fun - that propelled Amanda to stardom and to her current status as one of Britain's highest-paid stars. Alongside her growing number of TV projects, Amanda's rush-hour Heart Radio show with Jamie Theakston is the UK's most successful commercial radio show, she has a homeware collection and her 2020 album of cover songs, Songs from My Heart, reached a respectable No 4 in the music charts.