Once one of the Noughties' most famous British glamour models, Jodie Marsh now lives a very different life away from the cameras. While the 45-year-old became famous for wearing a belt as a bra, she's now more likely to be seen in wellies getting stuck-in on her Fripps Farm . After opening in 2020, Jodie has shunned red carpets in favour of dedicating her time to helping animals in need.
And today she is appealing against a decision of Uttlesford District Council to refuse an application to keep lemurs at her private sanctuary. But the celebrity's life nowadays isn't a far cry from her upbringing, when she was a privately educated straight-A student. Twice divorced Jodie was raised by millionaire parents John and Kristina Marsh, who made their money in the scaffolding business and home for the family was a countryside Tudor-style mansion, close to Brentwood in Essex.
After achieving 11 GCSEs at A and B grades and three straight As at A level at the £10,000-a-year Brentwood School, academic Jodie had hoped to became a vet or a lawyer. Though she lived a very privileged childhood, the star was badly bullied at school for her thick glasses and her broken nose, caused by a hockey accident. In her Channel 5 documentary Bullied: My Secret Past, Jodie told how her tormentors would kick footballs at her head and leave her cowering in the library at lunch.
The bullying was so bad she thought about taking her own life. "My bullying at school changed my life," the former glamour model .