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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Entertainment
Emmeline Saunders & Vicki Newman

Holly Willoughby's secret past as lingerie model before finding fame in TV

Holly Willoughby may be best known for her presenting work on This Morning, but she's actually had a long career of TV work and modelling stretching back to when she was a teenager.

And one of her first ever jobs was a lingerie modelling campaign for Pretty Polly bras, which she filmed for TV in 1998.

The cheeky advert showed an 18-year-old Holly giving out tongue-in-cheek instructions about how bras work.

In it, she tosses her blonde-brown curls around and brands herself a "sex goddess" while wearing a white bra and dangling pearl earrings.

Holly continues to hand out advice while a man in a lab coat stands behind her in a bathtub, seemingly there for scientific purposes.

It's not the only modelling Holly did in her younger years – she also appeared on the covers of teen magazines and in catalogues after being scouted aged 14.

Holly revealed back in 2013 that she was spotted by a modelling agent during a school trip to the Clothes Show Live in Birmingham, and quickly made a name for herself in front of the camera.

This led to her first presenting job for S Club TV and Ministry Of Mayhem, for which she won a BAFTA in 2006, and she's never looked back since.

Holly is as stunning as ever as she turns 40 (Instagram)

She later said: "I appreciate it was down to luck that it happened – modelling is a hard field to break into these days and I'm grateful I never saw the dark side of the industry. It opened a lot of doors for me that I never thought were possible."

But she has never ruled out doing more modelling in the future, saying after the birth of her daughter Belle in 2011 that she would "never say never".

"When I started as a model I did a lot of lingerie work but it was for Pretty Polly, which is a very safe brand," she told the Daily Mail at the time.

"It's been less than a year since I had my second baby so I would need some time to get in shape, but I would consider it. Having the time to do all these things is the real problem."

Holly, who turns 40 today, is as stunning as ever.

The blonde beauty posed up in her This Morning dressing room, surrounded by gifts, flowers, balloons and a giant light-up 40.

She's grateful for the way her career progressed (Mercury Press Agency)

While she may not be working professionally as a model these days, Holly still takes to Instagram most days to show fans what she's wearing for her TV appearances and let them know where they can pick up the items for themselves.

The style icon looks stunning every single time she steps in front of the camera, and her model good looks are going nowhere.

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