Welcome to My World

This book is for the people most important to me in life, the ones who matter the most and the ones who have loved and influenced me throughout my life and still do so today.

Two very special people who I love very much. Thank you for giving me the life I love and have loved, for the continuous love and support you have always given me and continue to give me.

My mates, our kids, the lads! I love you and thanks for all our laughs.

You are a very special little girl who has brought so much love and happiness into our family. We all love you x (A sister I thought I would never have.)

My friend, my rock, my lover. I love you so much; you mean the world to me. Thanks for just being you!

This book isn’t an autobiography, I’m too young to write one of those. Instead it is the story of the last few years and all the experiences I’ve faced. It’s as much about my life as it is my love of fashion, style and beauty. And, of course, shopping! Hopefully I’ll be able to tell you what it’s really been like living in the spotlight while trying to stay true to myself and my background, and I’ll share some of what I’ve learned along the way. Since the hardback was published, my life has changed even more, so I’ve updated the story in chapter 21 with what’s happened since then, including my new, exciting wedding plans! It really has been every young girl’s dream come true.

Welcome to my world.

It’s the summer of 2006. England’s World Cup is over, and me and Wayne are aboard a yacht called The Willsea, spending a week sailing round the French Riviera. We flew in to France by private jet, then took a helicopter to Monaco before sailing to St Tropez, then on to Cannes.

After Germany, we just wanted to go somewhere and totally relax. Wayne likes Barbados, that’s his favourite holiday spot, but we’d been going there for the last two years and didn’t want to travel too far this time, and I wanted to try somewhere in Europe. At the football there had been loads of talk among the wives, girlfriends and players about chartering yachts, because doing this made it much easier to deal with the press attention – or so we thought – and that made our decision.

The Willsea is a 100-foot yacht, with four bedrooms for guests – two double rooms and two singles – all with en suite bathrooms. Upstairs there’s a dining room, a living room, a kitchen and another three bedrooms where the staff sleep – the captain, his right-hand man, the cook and two waiters. There are decks where you can sunbathe, eat or do whatever you want. Eight of us are on this trip: me, Wayne, my Auntie Tracy and Uncle Shaun, and two other couples who are friends of ours.

Wayne hates the sun, so when we go away he usually likes to stay in the shade, or he’ll go and watch DVDs. The weather has been amazing but he’s been quite good on this trip, and I think it’s because we’re with a group and it’s been really enjoyable going out with the others. It’s also been nice to have time to ourselves as well, just the two of us lying out in the sun. Of course, Wayne is putting on loads of sun cream to stop himself burning. Factor 40, I think.

It’s been a relaxing break, which is a relief because the World Cup ended up being stressful. Wayne was gutted about losing, but I told him he’d just got to let it go, there was no point moping around. However, that’s easier said than done. For the first few days after he came back from Germany, Wayne was narky – well, he wasn’t narky exactly, but he was upset and he didn’t want to do anything. I told him that he should leave it behind, because he will have more World Cups coming up, and that one was over now.