She’s known for playing a bolshy schoolgirl, but despite the onscreen bravado, Chelsee Healey has had to learn to be more assured in real life, she tells Keeley Bolger

CHELSEE HEALEY rose to fame as the insolent Janeece Bryant in BBC One’s prime time school-based drama Waterloo Road. Then she went on to glamorously shimmy her way to second place in Strictly Come Dancing.

But underneath the bubbly exterior and outer confidence, Chelsee, 24, says she is far from satisfied with her looks. “I’ve never been happy with my body and I’m not sure I ever will be, she says.

She went through a breast enlargement procedure when she was only 18 and admits: “I should have waited longer before making the decision. My build is so small and there are only certain things I can wear.”

Chelsee, a diminutive 5ft 1½in, has learnt to gain body confidence through alternative means. “I feel good when I’m working out,” she says. “The older I’ve got, the more care I take with my body. I feel better when I eat healthily.”

Apart from eating well (a weakness for Haribo sweets aside), she has been taking Thisilyn Artichoke capsules to help reduce bloating after eating.

And, continuing on the theme of getting a helping hand from nature, she is also keen to make the most out of the body she was born with.

“There is a lot of pressure for women, and I don’t just mean those in the public eye, to have the perfect body. But ultimately it’s about making the most of what you have to look and feel your best,” she says.

To keep herself motivated, she often buddies up with former X Factor judge Tulisa Contostavlos for workout sessions. “I do like exercising with friends,” says Chelsee, who also regularly jogs and meets up with a personal trainer. “It gives you company and motivation. But if I have a gap in my exercise schedule I find it hard to get back on track.”

Recently, her schedule became busier than ever when she appeared in BBC Three’s Bollywood Carmen Live, an all-dancing, all-singing production filmed live in Bradford City Park. The experience was exhilarating and terrifying in equal measure and she admits that she got the “shakes” before she went on stage.

She has also rafted down the Zambezi river for Comic Relief’s Through Hell And High Water challenge with former Spice Girl Mel C.

When she has time, Chelsee likes to go shopping with her friends, especially if they can squeeze in a cocktail or two afterwards. However, she limits drinking to the weekends nowadays, and admits that she partly blames her partying lifestyle for the break up of her relationship with Bristol Rovers footballer Oliver Norburn.

“If there was somebody keeping me at home, I would stay in more,” says Healey, who split up with Oliver last year. “I do regret going out that much while I was in the relationship.”

SINCE the split, Chelsee’s core group of friends have become doubly important and she remains close to her mum, nan and older sister Kate.

And while many 24-year-olds want their own space, she is happiest at her mother’s house in Manchester where she still lives. The family have always been supportive of each other and became closer still after her father died of pancreatitis aged only 28, when Chelsee was five.

She is keen to help others facing tough times and visited Great Ormond Street Hospital for children between her Strictly performances, where she met the young patients.

Her life is rosy enough now, but one day she would like to complete the picture with children of her own. “I love being an auntie, it’s the best thing ever,” she says. “It makes me a bit broody.”

Her niece, Maisie, is only ten, but “she’s like an old woman”, laughs Chelsee. “She’s really got her head screwed on and she loves dancing. I wish I had concentrated more while I was younger. I didn’t do that, but now I look back and realise how sensible that would have been.”

Sensible perhaps, but thankfully this down-toearth star isn’t about to go all serious. She is off on a girly holiday to Ibiza soon, and says she is looking forward to gettting on the dance floor.

  • Chelsee Healey uses Thisilyn Artichoke capsules, £7.99 for 30 tablets to overcome bloating caused by food. Available from Boots.

For details, visit thisilyn.co.uk