'I'll probably be quite a childish old lady'

Sam Fox reflects on her incredible 40-year career, from selling millions of records and gracing magazine covers to joining Celebrity MasterChef and making a documentary about her life

- LESLEY JONES

It’s 40 years since a 16-year-old schoolgirl named Samantha Fox was named runner-up in the Miss Sunday People competition, and her life changed forever. Yet now, Sam admits with a smile that she expected the fame she found as the “girl next door” glamour model would only last a few years at most.

“My life’s been like a fairy tale,” she tells us. “I never would have dreamt back then that I would still be here now.”

The years have seen Sam, now 57, sell millions of records worldwide, present the BRIT Awards, and endure the Celebrity Big Brother house and I’m A Celebrity… jungle. She’s come a long way from the teen who used to help out on the family’s fruit and veg stall in Islington, north London.

Following her fast rise to become Britain’s favourite pin-up, she was launched into the charts with her first hit single Touch Me (I Want Your Body) – to a mixed reception.

“That beginning was tough, I had to work really hard to prove myself,” Sam admits.

But a much-needed boost was around the corner. “Bless him, Freddie Mercury pulled me up on stage to perform Tutti Frutti with him at a Queen afterparty in 1986. It was at a time when I really needed something like that,” she says of her duet with the rock legend. “I still thank him for it.”

Although Sam came out as gay in 2003, she confesses to having had “wonderful love affairs with guys, but never someone I could imagine spending my life with”. The star admits it took some time to follow her heart.