How did Donna Air transform herself from this to this?
Wye aye love! Former kids’ TV star even drops her Geordie accent to join the millionaire jet set...
RUMPETS TO HAMPAGNE
NNA says that while she has quired new eating habits and king skills, she has never lost her te for traditional northern grub. us her favourite drink is a cup of and she still yearns for ‘northern dge’, by which she means plenty of bohydrates such as ‘crumpets h cheese and marmite’ and ‘egg-d-bacon sarnies’. ut she also likes expensive taurants, good wine and Chamgne and, as MasterChef viewers nessed, can knock up a batch of mmus or a filo pastry pie in nutes. She is a fan of the ‘clean eat’ trend, epitomised by those fashable (if controversial) model food the Hemsley sisters, and is a fan piralised courgettes.
BLEACHED DENIM TO BURBERRY
THE Byker Grove days of anoraks, baggy stonewashed jeans and frizzy hair are long gone. Not that Donna’s polished new look came overnight. She admits that the 1980s and 1990s were a ‘fashion disaster’ for her, with some regrettable underwear shoots for lads’ mags and countless occasions when she stepped out dressed in highly flammable miniskirts or skin-tight Lycra. Not that her look came cheap — she once spent ‘thousands’ on a pair of Jean Paul Gaultier trousers.
Now a front row regular at London Fashion Week, she is paid to collaborate with many fashion brands. As a result, she gets given plenty of lovely things to wear. But while Donna loves Kate’s favourite designers, such as Beulah London and Burberry, she is not above the High Street and is an ambassador for Karen Millen.
The transformation into a demure creature who wears Breton tops and a swishy ponytail is complete.
There was a radical beauty makeover, too. Gone is the garden trowel foundation and dark red lip gloss. Nowadays, it’s all facials, reflexology and expensive yet subtle make-up and skincare from Chanel, Laura Mercier and Crème de la Mer.
PIN MONEY TO PROPERTY
ALTHOUGH she admits that she did not grow up in a ‘financially savvy household’, Donna says of her parents, ‘they did teach me the importance of hard graft’.
Working continuously since the age of ten has also instilled in Donna a need for financial independence. ‘I have good survival instincts and generally anticipate problems before they arise,’ she says.
Surprising as it may sound, she cites economist John Maynard Keynes, and his theory to save in the good times and spend in the bad, as her inspiration.
‘It’s certainly true of me. There is no stability or security in acting and it’s often feast or famine,’ she has said. ‘But when it’s famine I just carry on regardless. Fear can paralyse you, so I try to remain the ultimate optimist, a bit like Del Boy Trotter!’
Since becoming a single mother, she says that she is ‘a more sophisticated investor’.
When Donna broke up with Damian, she received a settlement on account of their daughter, Freya, though it is unlikely to have been as much as it would have been if they had been married.
Still it is her investments in property that have made her more money than her earnings from TV presenting, designing and other collaborations.
One thing is certain — she has gone from working-class Newcastle girl to Chelsea millionaire.