AT AN EMOTIONAL CHARITY EVENT KATIE PIPER IS JOINED BY FAMOUS FRIENDS TO SUPPORT FELLOW BURNS SURVIVORS

Katie Piper was supported by celebrity friends last week as she hosted an emotional Christmas carol service in aid of her eponymous charity foundation.

- SOPHIE VOKES-DUDGEON

The presenter, model and activist was joined by Amanda Holden and Simon Cowell and his fiancée Lauren Silverman at St Peter’s Church in London’s Belgravia, where guests were moved to tears as she and fellow burns survivors, who have been given rehabilitation support by her charity, told their stories.

Katie, 40, who su f fe red life-changing injuries in an acid attack in 2008, even made light of her most recent eye operation, describing putting on her single false eyelash for the evening’s celebrations.

Simon, whose nine-year-old son Eric was watching from the pews, fought back tears as he read a poem and paid tribute to his friend.

“I was thinking about you, Katie – when we first met, months after the awful thing happened to you, and I thought about the fact that you are so committed to what you do,” he said. “It’s given so many people confidence in so many different ways and my respect and admiration grows each year for you.”