Because I'd actually made an effort – even to the extent of putting eyeliner on – but within a few minutes of meeting Kelly Bell I felt like a giantess with bad hair and a list of physical imperfections as long as my arm.

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In the flesh she is undeniably pretty, and a fair amount of that is what she's naturally been blessed with, enhanced by a bit of make-up.

The only work she's had done on her face is veneers on her teeth, which are almost unnervingly perfect.

She is also – with the exception of her boobs – tiny. That at least is partly down to hard work as she's a fitness fanatic.

The fact that she has shelled out a fair amount of money on surgery – £100,000 to be precise – does provide me with some comfort as I tell myself I'm all natural.

She has had four boob jobs, the first when she was 18, a boob uplift, liposuction on her thighs and bum, the veneers on her teeth, plus numerous hair extensions.

From that first operation up to today, her chest has gone from a 30B to a 30G.

Most recently, she's had work done in America, finally creating a body she is happy with.

"People think I must be a surgery addict, but I'm not. I have a specific look I was aiming at, and in England I could never get it.

"Now I'm fully contented. I'm the happiest I've ever been with my boobs," she said.

Kelly, now 25, has been modelling for 10 years.

Her career started when she beat 650 other girls in a competition in the Daily Sport.

Modelling was not her planned career, as she wanted to be a personal fitness instructor originally.

She thinks she entered the competition largely to prove a point to people who were encouraging her to do it, as she felt herself such an unlikely model.

"I was seriously anorexic then, I was bulimic. I had no end of body issues. The thought of appealing to other people was a crazy idea," she explained.

"I did it to shut people up. I think it was more for me to say 'I told you I wasn't good enough'," she said.

But her plan backfired – kind of – and she did her first topless shoot aged 16.

If a plan is going to backfire, this seems to be the way to do it, as her career now includes fashion work, promotions, singing and chat show appearances.

She was voted sexiest babe of 2007 by readers of the Daily and Sunday Sport, has been Page Three girl of the year and became the only woman to achieve 100 covers in the same publication, the Daily Sport.

It probably doesn't make me sound very nice, but with a career like this I'd expected Kelly to be a shallow airhead.

But she is a lovely woman who remains a real homebody, which is an endearing quality.