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By Molly Watson,
Western Mail
SHE'LL
retire when she rakes in £10m, doesn't want to be more famous
than she is already and confesses she really doesn't like hard
work.
In fact, if her career goes pear-shaped, Charlotte Church says
she won't be bothered in the slightest.
"It won't be the end of the world," she says. "I've got a really
close family, I've got a really cool boyfriend, I've got really
cool people around me and there's lots that I want to do.
"And I'm rich."
Yes, the picture created by a warts, bacon butties, four-letter
tirades-and-all documentary, is certainly an honest one. In
fact, Charlotte Church - Confessions of a Teen Angel to be
screened on ITV2 next month, could be called brutally honest -
and with the language used it has to be screened at 9pm, past
the watershed.
It reveals the 19-year-old millionaire in all her unadorned
glory. It lays bare...
Why she hates the fame game
Why she preferred being unemployed
That she's embarrassed by her lack of fitness on video shoots
How she binges on take-aways and can't give up cigarettes
How she sees off female admirers of her Welsh rugby hero
boyfriend Gavin Henson
Her chi-chi plans for her new Cardiff home
The reasons behind a shocking four-letter outburst at her mum,
Maria.
The documentary followed Charlotte for six months as she
released two pop singles, bought her first house and endured six
weeks' separation from Gavin while he toured New Zealand with
the Lions.
With cigarette firmly in hand at all times, she moves between
her various engagements, curling up in whatever chair is
closest, bemoaning the loss of her freedom and lacking any
apparent ambition for the future, declaring bluntly, "I love
singing it's just all the rubbish which comes with it."
Charlotte on her career
Sitting back, with cigarette in hand as make-up artists work on
her for the filming of her first pop video, Crazy Chick,
Charlotte's come a long way from the prim 11-year-old who first
appeared on our television screens. But despite having sung in
front of some of the world's most important people, she admits,
"This is my first one (video shoot) I'm really scared."
This year she released two singles and her first pop album,
Tissues and Issues. Talking about the change of direction, she
said, "I just want to branch out and spread my wings.
"I get letters from people in the older generation from people
who used to buy my records saying, 'we know you're doing this
pop thing and as long as it's good music we will still buy it'.
So some people are still supportive. And then others which are
usually sent to my Nanna, bless her, saying 'what is your
granddaughter doing she had such a lovely voice?'."
But she adds, "It's so easy just to get your kit off for the
boys and hope it all sells well, but I'm not that kind of person
and my Nanna really wouldn't approve.
"I don't want to do like a Kylie or Britney thing where you get
your tits, stomach, legs and arse out all at the same time."
She adds, "I'm not that ambitious, to be honest. It's not like I
want world domination.
"There's more important things, you know. "My family matters to
me, Gavin matters to me, my friends matter to me much more than
my career."
Living a life of vice
Even as Charlotte talks about giving up smoking, she lights up,
although she does have the grace to look embarrassed as she
mutters, "I'm trying to give up ... it's not going so well at
the moment though as you can see."
And she makes no pretence of living a healthy lifestyle saying,
"I never feel I have to get fit at all. I'm a lazy person who
eats what she wants and never goes to the gym or anything. I
should, just for my own personal health. Even after one take I'm
out of breath, it's quite embarrassing."
Surveying her reflection in the mirror before a shoot, she says,
"I was supposed to cut down my eating over the weekend so I
could have a washboard stomach for today but Saturday night I
had a Chinese and Sunday night I was starving and thought,
forget it, and had a Chinese and then I had a bacon sandwich
this morning."
But it's her reputation for having one drink too many that she's
known for, a reputation Charlotte claims is unfair.
She said, "I'm not denying it I do get drunk but it's not that
bad, they make me look like I get absolutely off my skull
hammered every time I go out which my Nanna really doesn't
appreciate.
"I've just got to be more careful, more choosy with the places I
go to. I go to places where normal people from Cardiff are but a
lot of the people in the clubs are just trying to make money out
of me. It's a bit upsetting because I thought because I was a
local girl they would kind of look after me, but no."
Fame fatigue
New singles and albums bring with them an exhausting publicity
schedule, one which Charlotte seems already bored of.
Taking a break from a Smash Hits photo shoot, Charlotte eagerly
tucks into a sandwich. "I used to enjoy photo shoots but now I
have done so many that I really can't stand them any more, being
pulled and preened, I can't be bothered any more.
"It's hard work and I don't like hard work. I was really content
with being unemployed and doing bits and bobs."
Some weeks on, having been dragged out of bed for a television
appearance after a heavy day of drinking at the polo, she curls
up on a sofa in the dressing room and in between drags of her
cigarette she moans, "It's a nightmare promotion, an absolute
nightmare.
"You've got to be nice all the time. I sound like an ogre when I
say this but it takes so much energy to be really nice and happy
when you are not feeling like that.
On going out with Gavin
The couple's busy schedules means time spent together is
precious. This summer they visited the white sand beaches of
Antigua, taking along a trusty video camera to record their time
together. But while Charlotte is extrovert, loud mouthed and
bossy, Gav shies away from the limelight. When asked what he
loves about his girl friend, he cringes at the idea of
discussing his feelings on camera, and mumbles, "Everything. I
don't know I find it hard to say stuff like that. I don't want
to get too deep, I am a rugby boy, like."
Although, when presented with a video he's filmed of Charlotte
walking out of the sea in a black bikini, with the lens focused
on her cleavage, he blushes and says bluntly, "Well, they're her
best assets aren't they?"
And he added, "We are so close and we trust each other 100%."
But Charlotte shows none of her boyfriend's restraint. She talks
openly about how much she misses him when he's away and how
nervous she feels when she watches him play rugby and as she
wraps her arms around him, she declares, "I love him because
he's gorgeous, he has a lovely body. I just get on with him
really well. We have a laugh.
"He's quite funny and he's really kind and patient with me."
And as for Gav receiving attention from other girls, she said,
"I hate it when girls move in on him in clubs and I make it
clear that he's my man."
On her mum, Maria
She said, "People see us in the street and they think 'she's so
disrespectful to her mother'. But it's just the way we are we
are much more like sisters which is better because it makes us
closer."
In one shocking scene she has an angry showdown with Maria who
wants her to sign autographs when she is tired. She swears at
her mum then says, "Leave me alone. I don't have to be on show
all the time."
Her new house
She describes her new Cardiff home as "lush". Showing Gav around
her new property she brimmed with excitement and new plans for
the property including knocking through the back wall to create
French windows looking into the garden, building a gazebo and
knocking through the upstairs bedroom wall to create an archway
into the next room. She plans a curved white sofa from DFS and a
baby grand piano - chi-chi white, of course.
Ambition and the future
For a girl who's valued at around £6m, Charlotte seems
disconcertingly laid back. On discovering her single Crazy Chick
reached number two in the charts she said, "I wanted to be
number one but I wasn't really that worried. If I was more
ambitious then maybe." And when asked what she's likely to do in
the future she leans back and says, "I can see myself marrying,
having lots of babies and having dogs and stuff."
"If it all goes belly up, so to speak, it's not the end of the
world. I've got a really close family, I've got a really cool
boyfriend, I've got really cool people around me and there's
lots that I want to do. And I'm rich."
Curled up on the sofa next to her mum, Maria, Charlotte looks
younger and almost vulnerable. She says, "I don't want to be any
more famous than I am now. The more famous you are the more
freaky fans you get and stalkers and stuff which is scary. I
want to make £10m and then retire.
"I was just as happy singing on a Sunday night down the Robin
(Robin Hood pub in Canton) as I am singing in front of 75,000
people in Aberdeen. I get the same kick out of it."
Charlotte Church - Confessions of a Teen Angel, made by
award-winning film maker Chris Terrill, will be shown on ITV2,
October 6 at 9m.
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