Crewe Chronicle, June 18th, 2003

Twiggy's job is making a living - Julia Thorley

AFTER a disastrous stint on daytime TV, Twiggy Lawson has bounced back in style with Mrs Warren's Profession.

Rumours around her poor performance on telly's This Morning have dogged Twiggy over the past year.

But the ever-evolving supermodel, presenter, singer, actress and entrepreneur shows that you can't keep a good woman down in her role as the gritty Mrs Warren.

She is touring the country with the play and will be at the Regent Theatre in Stoke from next Monday to Saturday, June 23-28.

It was in her stint alongside Coleen Nolan on This Morning that the glamorous Twiggy received a rude awakening, with harsh criticism over her insensitivity to guests and her wooden style.

It was not just the Press who slated her. The programme was inundated with messages complaining that she seemed unsympathetic and her loud laugh sent shock waves across the country.

After just four weeks of the three-month contract Twiggy was gone with a reported £80,000 pay off.

This may be the reason why she sternly says: 'No, I have no plans to do any presenting.'

Despite the criticism, she shows the same sort of steely personality as her character Mrs Warren and the ever youthful 53-year-old has plenty of other projects afoot.

She says: 'I have a record coming out later this year. I love singing, and I have done it ever since I was a child. I had a pop record out about three years ago called Pride, but this one is a bit of a mixture of styles.'

Twiggy also has launched her own skin care range. 'I like to do things that interest me and the skin care range is something that I wanted to do because I think it is important to look after your skin.'

She adds: 'I think that variety is the spice of life and you have to do things that interest you.'

Twiggy was 17 when she was named the face of 1966. The spidery-eyelashed waif became the first supermodel.

She stresses: 'I am quite lucky because I was offered acting jobs when I was modelling and I gave it a go and found out that I could do it.

'I was as famous in America as I was over here when I was modelling, which means that I can do a lot over there. I love America. The people are so friendly and they just love the Brits.

'As soon as I finish this I am going on holiday and then I'm off to the States but I won't say what I'm doing because I don't like to tempt fate.'

It may seem that Twiggy has had a charmed life but things have not always been that good for her.

She met her first husband, actor Michael Whitney, when he was 42 and she was 23. She was unaware at the time that he was a recovering alcoholic and their life together was dogged by his alcoholism.

It was a decade later that he died in a McDonald's fast food restaurant at a table he was sharing with their daughter, Carly, on an outing to celebrate her fifth birthday.

Soon after his death she met actor Leigh Lawson, whom she married 15 years ago. She says: 'He is my best friend and we have been fortunate but you have to touch wood. You never know what may happen.'

Because of the strenuous workload of touring the country with Mrs Warren's Profession, she has not been able to spend much time with her family. But she loves the play and could not refuse the opportunity to star in it.

'The play is by George Bernard Shaw and it is wonderfully written. I play the part of an ex-prostitute. It begins around the time when she tells her 22-year-old daughter, who has had a privileged upbringing, where the money came from.'

The play, which addresses sexual liberation, hypocrisy and self-delusion, was banned for 25 years.

Her character - Mrs Warren - is a charming but wise old bird contained in a decidedly vulgar but ever so respectable Victorian veneer. Her toughness is the product of harsh experience - the kind from which she wishes to protect her only child.

While Mrs Warren began from the lowest rung on the social ladder, fighting for every inch of respectability gained, she has made sure that her daughter will benefit from a carefully prepared head start. But a clash of wills creates an almighty bang destined to separate them forever.