Danielle Lloyd

For someone so young, Danielle Lloyd has packed an incredible amount into her 23 years but her journey certainly hasn’t always been plain sailing…

Born in the legendary Penny Lane, Liverpool in 1983, daughter of Jackie and Arthur Lloyd (a bank manager and engineer respectively), Danielle was a sickly child and contracted whooping cough at 3 months old, leaving her lungs weak and her suffering from Asthma. Aged 4 the Lloyd family moved to Aigburth and Danielle attended Southbank Infants school followed by Gilmour Junior School, eventually gaining a place at St Hilda’s High School for Girls where, not just a pretty face, Danielle got nine GCSE’s under her belt and then went on to study Advanced Science in both Biology and Chemistry. At school Danielle was rarely far from the sports field despite still suffering asthma and competed nationally for the Sports Acrobatics Liverpool Team at the Centre of Excellence as well as representing her county at cross country running and the hurdles.

From the age of 16 Danielle loved modelling, frequently entering competitions in and around Liverpool so upon finishing her academic studies, she decided to pursue a career in modelling and also train as a beautician. However just as things were hotting up in her career, prior to the Miss Merseyside contest, Danielle was brutally attacked by her boyfriend at the time.She was dragged from her car after an argument with him whilst it was still moving, suffering terrible grazes and severe bruising to her body and losing most of her hair.

Danielle almost gave up on modelling altogether after that but with the firm encouragement of her family, friends and Women’s Aid, as well as many months of counselling to try and deal with what happened, she felt strong enough to continue in her dream career. The incident brought to light the fatal flaws in her relationship at the time and Danielle had to admit to herself and others that she was, and had been, in a physically and mentally abusive relationship for 3 years. Despite her young age, Danielle knows first hand how hard it is to face up to the reality of being in a destructive relationship and says of the experience now.

“Deep down you can’t forget what’s happened now matter how much counselling you have, you blame yourself and tell yourself you deserve it – I was given help when I most needed it and I want to be able to help others now. Too many women (1 in 4) suffer domestic violence at some time and support centres such as Women’s Aid aren’t able to answer all of the calls due to being under resourced. Ill always do all that I can to help raise awareness and help people. Being in a violent relationship, you are constantly living in fear – and that’s no way for anyone to live their life”.

In November 2006 Danielle Lloyd was stripped of her title as Miss Great Britain 2006 by the competition organisers accusing her of bringing the competition into "disrepute". It was alleged that she had been in a relationship with judge Teddy Sheringham before the contest however the accusations were totally untrue as the couple maintain they had not even met until the eve of the contest and its more likely that the very public shaming of Danielle was more about garnering publicity for the contest and organisers. The story conveniently coincided with the search for Miss GB 2007 with the two announcements being made within minutes of eachother.Danielle kept her head held high thoughout the media storm which ensued, more concerned for the reputation of Ted than anything else, and she chose not to contest their decision replying "My friends and family know the truth as does Ted's".On the same day, the news broke of Danielle's appearance in the December 2006 issue of US and worldwide edition of the legendary Playboy magazine. Her appearance in Playboy naturally garnered further speculation as to the true reason for her being stripped of her title but Danielle's reasons were clear "To follow in the footsteps of legends such as Marlyn Monroe and Sharon Stone to name but a couple was a great honour" and the public certainly seemed to appreciate her appearance too and after seeing the photographs her name spread globally. Since then the organisers of the Miss GB contest have issued a legal suit against Danielle which she is vigorously contesting and will be issuing no comment regarding this.

Despite the wonderful trappings and lifestyle Danielle enjoys through her career, she clearly doesn’t allow it to blur her vision on what’s important to her “Really, I’d like to work towards helping those who don’t have the basics we enjoy in our lives. Families shouldn’t have to beg or worry about where their next meal is coming from. Surely everyone should be able to drink fresh water and no child should have to beg or work from an early age.

On the 3rd January 2007 Danielle Llloyd entered Celebrity Big Brother for Channel 4 television