Is Kelly Brook’s Comeback at Risk Amid ‘Bullying Row’?

She’s been in showbiz world for almost three decades, despite being just 45 years old.

And despite being hit back numerous setbacks in her wide-spanning career, Kelly Brook appears to have nine lives, having been able to bounce back each time.

The media personality has tried her hand at just about every job in the entertainment industry, making forays into the worlds of modelling, TV presenting, reality shows, acting and radio.

But her path has been anything but smooth sailing, facing a number of brutal knocks, including being fired from a major TV show three separate times, to her repeated failings to crack Hollywood.

However, underneath her glamorous looks and beaming smile, Kelly has shown a remarkably tough survivor mentality, weathering a slew of storms to land back on her feet.

She’s determinedly powered on and continued to land jobs, insisting she would never step away from the limelight for a different career path.

But could this latest ‘bullying row’ threaten to derail her career once more as her campmate Jack Osbourne’s sister accuses her of picking on her sibling?

Kelly’s family have been forced to defend the star, calling the idea of her being a bully ‘a load of rubbish’ when they spoke at their family home in Rochester, Kent.

Kelly O tore into the actress for bad-mouthing Jack in the Bush Telegraph after he stepped in to help her slice an eel which had earlier left her gagging in disgust.

Viewers have urged Kelly to ‘cut him some slack’ following the clash, but it is yet to be seen whether she will come out of the situation victorious.

Kelly has previously spoken about how she has got herself out of some scrapes and feels like she has ‘made it’ out of the other side. 

She told The Sun: ‘It was my livelihood and so you have to keep going because what else are you going to do? It’s all I ever knew. I went to stage school and there wasn’t an option to do anything else.’

While she insists that every blow she’s taken over the years has made her stronger, saying: ‘I mean, gosh, when I look at the people who have come in and out of my life over the years and I’ve just navigated my way through. 

‘It’s like a jungle really, isn’t it? I feel like I’ve come out the other side, like “Ahh… I’ve made it”.’

And now, Kelly has re-entered the Jungle, jetting off to Australia to star in the new series of I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here!, where she’s hoping to make her biggest comeback yet.

Modelling 

Kelly began modelling aged 16 after she won a beauty competition, which her mother had entered her into.

Campaigns for the likes of Bravissimo, Foster’s and Walker’s crisps followed, before she soon became a Page 3 icon and graced the covers of lads’ mags such as GQ, Loaded and FHM.

Known for her big hair, short skirts and ample cleavage, she was ultimate sex symbol of the 90s, frequently topping ‘Sexiest Women’ lists alongside contemporaries like Keeley Hazell and Rachel Stevens.

She was even crowned FHM’s sexiest woman in the world in 2005, staying in the Top 100 for 15 consecutive years until the lads’ mag closed.

Along the way, Kelly was cashing it in, telling the Standard in 2012 that at one point, she was getting paid £15,000 for an hour’s work.

And in February 2007, she made a deal to be the face of Lynx body spray, which was reported at the time to be worth around £1 million.

However, she later claimed that her curvy figure caused her to lose out on job opportunities as fashion bosses would hire slimmer models.

While last week, she admitted that she had never actively set out to have a career in glamour modelling but fell into it, and found it ‘very uncomfortable’ to be sexualised from the age of 16.

Speaking on the How To Fail With Elizabeth Day podcast, Kelly said entering into the industry so young, made her ‘grow up really quickly’.

She said: ‘Being sexualised like that at such a young age was very uncomfortable. I’ve never felt like a sexy woman. I’m like a clown. I like to make people laugh. 

‘I like to have egg on my face, I’m like quirky in that respect so to be sexualised and to be seen as sexy was just a bit of a strange thing that didn’t really resonate with my soul. My physical appearance and my soul are two different things.’

Last year, she decided to quit modelling, saying that she had grown tired of posing for ‘the male gaze’.

She told The Sun: ‘It’s very hard having been a bikini model all through my 20s and then you hit 30 and they still want me to do calendars. I’m married and I’m very happy being in my 40s.’

Big Breakfast

Kelly’s first foray into television came in 1999, when at jut 19-years-old she was recruited to fill Denise Van Outen’s shoes as Johnny Vaughan’s co-host on The Big Breakfast.

However, what seemed like a dream opportunity soon turned into what she called a ‘rollercoaster ride’, which saw her ridiculed for her performance.

She later reflected to The Guardian: ‘I was 18, I’ve got big boobs, it was my first TV job and people literally sat and scrutinised everything I did and wrote down every mistake.’

Critics said she failed to replicate her predecessor’s chemistry with the lively, opinionated Johnny and mocked her for ‘not being able to read an autocue’.

Just six months after being unveiled as Denise’s replacement, Kelly was fired from the show – first learning her fate while on holiday in Gran Canaria when she read the headline: ‘Kelly axed’.

The abrupt departure led to a host of stand-in presenters taking her place, with Liza Tarbuck, Lisa Rogers, Amanda Byram and the returning Denise all filling in alongside Johnny before the show went off-air in 2002. 

Speaking about the difficult period 20 years later, Kelly said it had taken her a ‘long time’ to get over what happened, but that she had learned from it and come out stronger.

She told The Sun: ‘That 19-year-old girl wasn’t treated very well in the beginning. I kind of feel sorry for her.  She was vulnerable and naive going into this industry with no idea about the impact it was going to have on her life and her family.

‘I don’t even feel like that was me because I’ve learned so much since then. I think people just wanted to write me off. They didn’t want me to succeed and did everything they could to make me fail. It was pure sabotage for so many years.

‘But I’m stronger now and I can put that negativity to bed by having a happy, healthy life. It’s taken a long time to get there but I’m here.’

Reality TV

Although her Big Breakfast stint ended in disaster, Kelly continue trying her hand at presenting, beginning a new era of her career in reality TV.

In 2005, she joined Patrick Kielty as the original hosts of hit dating show Love Island – then called Celebrity Love Island – for its first ever series, starring the likes of Liz McClarnon, Calum Best and Rebecca Loos.

However, unfortunately for Kelly, once again she ended up being unceremoniously fired early on, with Fearne Cotton replacing her as Patrick’s co-host in season two.

Speaking about her axing on Heart Radio Kent in 2018, she spilled: ‘In 2006 it was the year I was preparing to go to Fiji to shoot the second series of Love Island.

‘Then I got a call saying I wouldn’t be going, I was sacked.’

However, Kelly stressed that she would jump at the opportunity to return to the show after it was revived in 2015.

She said: ‘It’s fine, I’m still available. The series has come back, it’s popular. I’m available, call me!’

The following year saw Kelly become a fan-favourite on Strictly Come Dancing, where she was partnered with Brendan Cole, seen as a shoe-in for the final after topping the leaderboard in the first week.

However, in a tragic turn of events, she had to withdraw from the show in week nine, after the devastating death of her father Kenneth Parsons from lung cancer, when she was just 28 years old.

She continued to sporadically appear on reality TV, including as a judge on the second season of Dirty Dancing: The Time of Your Life in 2008, but this wasn’t renewed for a third series.

In 2013, she covered for Fearne Cotton as a team captain on Celebrity Juice in 2013, but Fearne returned to the job in August after finishing her maternity leave.

Kelly then became a team captain on the Channel 5 panel show It’s Not Me, It’s You in 2016, alongside Eamonn Holmes and Vicky Pattison, however it lasted just eight episodes.

But in recent years, she’s had more success, doing a year as a Loose Women panellist in 2018, before returning last year, while she reached the semi-final of The Masked Dancer in 2021.

Her most recent reality TV appearance saw her team up with husband Jeremy Parisi for Celebrity Race Across the World last year.

Britain’s Got Talent

Kelly’s history of bad luck with presenting gigs reached its lowest point in 2009, when she was famously fired from Britain’s Got Talent after just six days.

She has blamed her short-lived stint on the judging panel on presenters Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly, alleging they had her fired because she didn’t know what they did on the show, leading to a ‘clash of egos’.

She insisted the duo had thwarted her career, saying after the axing: ‘There was nothing I could do in this country after Britain’s Got Talent. 

‘The people at ITV were telling me that I had upset Ant and Dec and that was it.’

Simon Cowell hired Kelly as the first ever fourth judge, before getting rid of her less than a week into the job, with the claim it was because having four judges made the format ‘too complicated’. Three years later, Alesha Dixon joined the panel.

In Ant and Dec’s 2010 autobiography, Ooh! What a Lovely Pair: Our Story, Dec got candid about Kelly’s axing from the show, insisting he could not understand why she had been hired in the first place.

He wrote: ‘Kelly looked nervous, so I told her it was going to be great fun and to just relax… She nodded, then looked at me and said, “And what do you do on the show?”

‘I looked at Simon, who was sat next to me, he turned to Kelly and said, “Kelly, you have seen the show, haven’t you?” To which she replied, “Yeah… well, bits”.’

‘I don’t want to sound like an egomaniac, but the last person who said, “And what do you do?” was the Queen when I met her at the party for ITV’s fiftieth anniversary.’

Further on in their book, the two presenters confessed they were ‘annoyed’ they hadn’t been consulted about Kelly joining the show. 

Dec wrote: ‘We had two questions: “Why is there a fourth judge?” and “Why is it Kelly Brook?” None of them could answer us…

‘Obviously, as hosts of the show, we have to justify that kind of thing to the audience, and no one could give us a good reason why Kelly was on board.

‘The simple answer was that Simon, without talking to anyone, had decided it was a good idea. We didn’t agree.’

Kelly soon hit back saying: ‘I would love to have stayed on the show… I really felt it was working out. Ant and Dec had never been anything but pleasant to my face but, clearly, they didn’t want me on the show.

‘Their egos are such that they were saying to themselves “How dare she think she can come on to our show?”, and since then they’ve been very vocal about their displeasure at me being there.’

She also took a swipe at the duo for writing about her in their book, writing: ‘As for Ant and Dec, good luck to them. They are rich and they are happy, but they won’t be in my autobiography, even if I am in theirs!’ 

While she has placed the blame firmly at the Geordie pair’s door, she has also hit out at Simon for his behaviour when she was on the show, accusing him of being ‘disrespectful’.

Speaking to the Sunday People, Kelly explained: ‘He’d just rock up whenever he wanted to, it was his party and he did what he wanted… It was a joke, it was so disrespectful to me, Amanda and Piers.

‘I’ve always wanted to be an actress, not a judge on a reality show. So when Simon told me that was it, I was like “fine”. I took my money and came back to America.

‘Everyone thought I chased Simon, desperate to be on the show but that couldn’t be further from the truth. He called me the day before and asked if I’d do it.’

Acting career

Amid turns at modelling, presenting and reality TV, Kelly also made a number of attempts at having an acting career, having long dreamt of becoming an actress.

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, she was in a relationship with future movie star, Jason Statham, with the couple even getting engaged during their seven year romance. 

At the time, the Hollywood hardman, 58, was a diver who was also seeking a career on the big screen, with Kelly later revealing that she insisted the pair go to Los Angeles to find fame and fortune.

However, as Jason quickly was catapulted to stardom with his casting in Guy Ritchie’s Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998) and Snatch (2000), Kelly’s own career ‘floundered’.

She racked up minor credits, such as playing Lex Luthor’s girlfriend in a few episodes of Smallville, a small part in The Italian Job and the lead role in romcom School For Seduction.

But peaking to Elizabeth Day on her podcast, How to Fail, last week, Kelly admitted she put her own career on hold in order to help Jason’s succeed.

She said: ‘I think definitely in my first relationship there was definitely elements of co-dependency. There were elements of me putting my career and my life on hold. 

‘I had a really good job at MTV. I remember I was hosting a daily show there, and it was just after I’d got fired off The Big Breakfast and I got a really great show there and I was there for about a year and my boyfriend at the time was an actor. 

‘I remember he got offered a few roles in things, as like a bouncer on the door at in EastEnders doing something and he had so much talent and charisma and I was like, “Do you know what? We just got to go to America. I just think it’s going to be the making of us if we just go”.’

Kelly confessed that as Jason’s career skyrocketed, she was left feeling ‘neglected’ when he failed to give her the same support that she’d given him, eventually causing her to end the relationship in 2004.

She recalled: ‘But I had this really good job and we had no money and I quit my job and we went and I was there as this support network for him and watched his career flourish, whereas mine floundered a bit because I didn’t have the same opportunities. 

‘I was just flying back and forth between the UK and LA and it was quite taxing and expensive and it was exhausting.

‘His career just took off and it just became the most incredible thing because I did so much and didn’t look after myself, I just felt so neglected in that dynamic and to the point where I actually fell out of love with him in the end because he hadn’t showed up for me like I’d showed up for him, I didn’t feel.’

Kelly went on to star as a shipwreck survivor in the erotic thriller Survival Island in 2005 opposite Billy Zane, who she went on to date and get engaged to until their split in 2008.

However, she later admitted that the film was too raunchy for her and demanded that producers remove her naked scenes – however the request was denied upon the film’s release, where it was panned by critics and went straight to DVD.

She and Billy reunited to star as lovers in 2007 family comedy film Fishtales, but at its premiere at Cannes Film Festival, it received very poor reviews, with some critics walking out before the film had finished.

After that, Kelly then starred in horror comedy remake Piranha 3D, which grossed an admirable $83million worldwide and was lined up to star in Hotel Caledonia, about backpackers working at an isolated Scottish hotel. 

However the film was was canned after the movie’s biggest names – Gillian Anderson and Jaime Pressley – pulled out. 

Kelly then played herself in Keith Lemon: The Film in 2012, which took £4million in the UK box office, despite being universally panned, and made brief forays into theatre, including in a West End production of Calendar Girls.

But in 2016, she got ‘the biggest opportunity of my life’, when she landed a major role in US comedy sitcom, One Big Happy, created by talk-show host Ellen DeGeneres.

At the time, Kelly was being tipped to follow in the footsteps of Modern Family star Sofia Vergara, and was reported to have earned £550,000 for six episodes.

She told The Mail On Sunday at the time: ‘Sofia is someone I look up to. She has a fantastic, fun accent and she’s a sexy woman but does comedy so well. If I could try to be a little like that, that would be great.

‘I’d love a bit of her success. I’ve always been the brunt of the joke. I’ve always been the stooge.’

While the show’s writer and executive producer, Liz Feldman, was effusive about Kelly’s talents, predicting the role would send her straight into A-list status in both the US and UK.

Ahead of the show’s premiere, she gushed: ‘Kelly’s tape was sent to me on a Saturday night and I immediately knew she was a star, though I wasn’t at all familiar with her. She flew to LA two days later to do her screen test, blew us all away, and the role was hers by Friday.

‘She’s already a star – America just doesn’t know it yet. But they will, because she really does shine on the screen. She’s so likeable and has such great energy and timing, I think audiences are going to be very taken with her.

‘And I would love for everyone in the UK to see just how fantastic Kelly is on the show. I think people will fall in love with her in a new way.’

However, in another stroke of bad luck for Kelly, NBC brutally axed the sitcom after six episodes due to dismal ratings and reviews, with critics branding it ‘obvious, dumb and unfunny’ and calling Kelly’s performance ‘calamitous’ and ‘unconvincing.’

Taking to her Instagram after the news, she gushed that she was ‘grateful’ for the opportunity, hailing it as her ‘most rewarding job’ and concluding: ‘Going off to cry now’.

A source told The Mirror at the time, that rather than take her to the big leagues, the show would likely have a dramatically negative effect on Kelly’s career.

They said: ‘For Kelly the problem will now be shaking off such a dramatic flop from her career and aspirations of being seen as a good actress.’

And other than a single episode of Midsomer Murders in 2018, Kelly did indeed give up on her acting dream, later saying she had even turned down a part in a film because it would have taken up her holiday days at Heart.

In 2019, she declared she was quitting acting, saying: ‘I’m not as thirsty as I was. Less is more at the moment. I don’t feel like I need to be out every night or on every red carpet or be on telly all the time or do pilot season in LA.

‘I’m not burnt out from it, but I feel like I’ve been there and done it. I want to spend more time on myself, looking after Jeremy, looking after our home and doing my job and that’s it. That’s my focus.’

Radio

Like always, Kelly managed to bounce back and land on her feet, shifting her focus in recent years towards broadcasting and taking on more radio work and lifestyle projects.

She has been the co-host of the Heart London Drivetime show with Jason King since 2019, after previously working at a local radio station in Kent, saying: ‘I reinvented myself to try and do something different.’

She’s admitted to feeling like she’s been given a second chance with her radio career, after her forays into acting, modelling and presenting.

Speaking to Hello! in 2019, she said: ‘It’s been really lovely because I feel like I have been given another lifeline. You think, “Oh, that’s it, maybe I had my go and it’s someone else’s turn.”

‘When an opportunity like this comes along, all of a sudden you’ve got another shot.’

Kelly confessed that her previous failures at other career paths had left her doubting herself, but that she’s now finally found her place in the media industry.

She said: ‘I think working at Global is great because I’ve got a job where I talk to people every day and connect with them. And to stay in a job for longer than a few weeks without getting sacked…

‘It’s like “Ah, I can do this! I’m not a bad person. I’m nice. People do like talking to me. People do like working with me.”

‘Because that self-doubt makes you start to wonder. You think, “God, there’s something wrong with me. Why isn’t this working out?”‘

I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here!

Kelly is hoping to use her appearance on I’m A Celebrity to make an epic career comeback.

While she’s already reportedly receiving an £80,000 pay cheque to sign up, she also has a careful game plan to use the exposure to ensure viewers see more sides of her, while simultaneously launching an exciting new business.

It marks a sharp U-turn for the star, as back in 2018 she vowed there would be ‘a million’ other things she would rather do than appear in the jungle.

‘I don’t want to eat eyeballs or sheep testicles and all the things they have to eat on there,’ she said on her Heart radio show.

‘Even if I had a huge tax bill and I had to pay it really urgently, I still wouldn’t do it.

But seven years on and Kelly now plans to capitalise on her Jungle fame to launch an Italian food range with husband Jeremy.

According to the GOV.UK website, she has just filed papers with the UK’s Intellectual Property Office to trademark the name Parisi Arpino.

The legal papers reveal plans to sell ‘pizzas; pasta; pasta sauce’, plus olive oils, meats and cheeses.

Lawyers are still reviewing their application and the trademark will remain in place for 10 years once approved.

The move hints that Kelly is following in the footsteps of Italian actress Sophia Loren, who managed to turn her career round from sex symbol to business entrepreneur, having vowed she’s ‘not there for the male gaze anymore’.

Not only did she have the looks, but she also had the brains, launching an Italian restaurant called Sophia Loren Original Italian Food and creating lifestyle brands such as Sophia Loren Home. 

Despite wanting to move away from being seen purely as a sex symbol, Kelly has been heating up iconic Jungle shower with her selection of perfectly curated bikinis. 

In a play that is garnering her plenty screen time, and in turn more fans, she has had her bikinis screen tested to ensure they flatter her figure. 

Kelly told the Mail on Sunday: ‘I’ve got loads of different brands. I’ve got lots of different bikinis with me, so we haven’t actually selected the ones I’m going to be wearing in the jungle yet. 

‘They’ve all gone off to wardrobe to get tested on camera, so they’ll decide for me.’ 

Kelly is planning to follow in the footsteps of fellow presenter, Myleene Klass, who got tongues wagging after wearing a flattering white bikini in the Jungle shower during her 2006 stint on the show.

The moment is engrained in I’m A Celebrity history and it’s widely believed the move helped Myleene, 47, win runner-up on the show so many celebrities have tried to replicate the effect.

Revealing she had spoken to Mylene ahead of her Jungle stint, the radio host said: ‘Myleene was actually, she did talk to me about the shower. 

‘She said that when she arrived, she actually had to run out and get a bikini. So I made sure that I packed plenty of swimsuits, so we had loads of options.

‘But, that white bikini that she wore, that iconic scene of her in the shower looking incredible, that was just that was not a pre planned thing.

‘I think it would be very difficult to try and recreate something like that, that was fate that was meant to be, and that was her moment.’

Yet Kelly made it clear that she also wants to showcase a different side to herself in the Jungle as she issued a warning for viewers ahead of the launch show.

She said: ‘I’m not a 20-year-old bikini model anymore. You know, I am a very different person. 

‘I am older, but I am still strong and I am still fit, and that is the most important thing.’

Kelly is also gaining screen time for her growing feud with Jack Osbourne, where she has been accused of bullying by his older sister Kelly.

This week Kelly’s family hit back after Kelly Osbourne accused her of being a ‘bully’ following a clash with her brother Jack on I’m a Celebrity.

Kelly O tore into the actress, model and radio presenter for bad-mouthing Jack in the Bush Telegraph after he stepped in to help her slice an eel which had earlier left her gagging in disgust.

Speaking at the family home Kelly’s stepdad leapt to her defence and of Osbourne’s bullying claims he said simply: ‘It’s a load of rubbish.’

I’m a Celebrity viewers watched the awkward encounter between Jack and Brook on Wednesday’s show, the second fiery exchange between the pair.

Jack, 40, had stepped in to help his campmate as she struggled to prepare dinner, politely asking: ‘Would you like me to cut up the fish?’

Although Kelly accepted his offer, she later claimed to camera that Jack had ‘elbowed’ her aside, saying: ‘I saw Jack’s eyes light up, it was like Christmas to Jack, and he came running over and elbowed me out of the way to get to this fish like a caveman, and I was like, no, I’m going to do it.’

Kelly insisted on chopping the fish herself but repeatedly gagged and retched at the smell, prompting Jack’s elder sister to slam her behaviour as ‘performative’.

Speaking on Instagram, Kelly O said: ‘Kelly Brook… I don’t think I like you. 

‘Elbowing out of the way to get to the fish… you’re so performative, with all the gagging and the over‑dramatics. 

‘You bring out my big‑sister vibes where I want to attack you because I feel like you’re a bit of a bully.’

Kelly and Jack have already clashed once before when Jack criticised her potato slicing while preparing a previous meal.

Their feud took a new twist, thanks to late arrivals Vogue Williams and Tom Read Wilson.

The pair made their jungle debut during Thursday’s episode as the annual latecomers and are staying in a luxury ‘Leader’s Lodge’, with comfy beds and control all goings-on in the  camp.

In their new roles, the pair had to assign duties and chores to their fellow campmates.

They decided Kelly would be one of the camp chefs – saying she looked like Nigella Lawson – with Martin Kemp joining her.

As for Jack, he and ex-EastEnders actress Shona McGarty ultimately ended up with dunny duty.

The other pairings are Ruby Wax and Lisa Riley on washing up, Eddie Kadi and AngryGinge on water duty and Alex Scott and Aitch on wood duty. 

Having sensed the shake-up, Jack had confided in his fellow campmates: ‘I feel resistance to Vogue and Tom, I’m just kinda like, “Hey you don’t get to walk in halfway through the movie and decide to turn it off or change it.”‘

Kelly previously complained that she felt displaced by Jack in the kitchen and said: ‘I’m not gonna lie, last night I just felt, I just felt a bit lost. 

‘I just want to be so useful, I’m just still trying to find my place in the camp in terms of what to do.’

Justifying her attempts to steer Jack in the kitchen, she added: ‘I’m so sorry Jack if I’m coming at you and if I’m cutting potatoes wrong, but honestly it’s only coming from a place where I just want to help.’

Jack fired back: ‘That’s just because in my world at home I’ve got four kids and I’m always just doing, doing, doing.’

But claiming the cooking wasn’t his to delegate in the first place, Kelly said to Alex and Shona: ‘So he’s not in charge but then he’s in charge of everything, choosing who’s gonna be in charge.’

The disagreement between the pair even sparked fears among viewers that he might quit the jungle amid the rising ‘stress’ and his emotional start to the series.