It’s been 40 years since a 16-year-old schoolgirl named Samantha Fox was named runner-up in the Miss Sunday People competition and her life changed forever.
And now, talking to the paper that gave her the big break – which would launch a stellar career in showbiz – Sam admits with a smile that she expected the fame she found as the “girl next door” glamour model would only last a few years at most.
“My life’s been like a fairy tale,” she tells us, adding that she can’t believe how quickly time has flown. “I never would have dreamt back then that I would still be here now.”
The years have seen her sell millions of records worldwide, present Brit Awards and endure the Big Brother house and I’m A Celeb’s jungle as well as her own personal dramas. And Sam, 57, has come a long way from the teen who helped out on the family’s fruit and veg stall in Islington, north London.
Thinking back to the recession-hit 80s when she first rose to stardom, she says, “I was one of the lucky ones. I remember friends not being able to get the jobs that they wanted or getting pregnant young because they weren’t happy at home. I felt so privileged to have such a wonderful job, travelling the world and being in control of my destiny quite early on.
“Growing up I was very much a tomboy, really. I was always boxing orat gymnastics, swimming and diving, orI was out on the streets on my bike or skateboard playing with the boys.
“I had bee stings compared to other girls, so when my boobs came whenI was 14 or 15 I hated them! I was so embarrassed because they literallydid come overnight so it was a bit ofa shock. Everyone was asking me whatI’d put on them to make them grow. I’dtell them, ‘If I could invent a cream to make that happen I’ll be a multimillionaire bythe time I’m 17.’”
But fame and fortune would come to Sam even before that. On her fast rise to becoming Britain’s favourite pin-up, the awkwardness she felt about her developing body was replaced with pride, even when she turned up at school to sit exams and was greeted with her topless photos on the common room noticeboard.
“There was a part of me that was so shy but you know, after I did a modelling shoot I thought the photos looked great. I wasn’t really embarrassed any more because so many people were telling me I’d be very, very famous.”
Attending Anna Scher’s drama school and being in a band with friends may have helped ambitious Sam feel at home in the spotlight and it wasn’t long before she was launched into the charts with her first hit single Touch Me (I Want Your Body) – toa mixed reception.
“That beginning was tough so I just had to work really, really hard to prove myself. When I started my pop career there were people who didn’t want me to succeed and saying that it wasn’t me singing on my own record, but I put the work in and got on tour to prove I could sing.
“Bless him, Freddie Mercury pulled me up on stage to perform Tutti Frutti with him at a Queen afterparty in 1986 – it was ata time when I really needed somethinglike that. There was a lot of really horrible negative press about Touch Me butthen we were on the front page of every newspaper. I thought, ‘Well if Freddie Mercury wants to sing with me then I’ve definitely got a bit of coolness about me now.’ I still thank him for it to this day.
“I remember doing interviews for magazines like the NME and The Faceand I knew they were going to slaughter me because I was a Page Three girl gone into music. But you know what? I’d makeit onto the cover, so I would just cut those out and never read the interviews.”
Turning a blind eye to her critics may have been easier back in the days before instant telly fame and social media, and Sam speculates that trolling must be tough for upcoming celebs in a world where stardom can be fast – and fleeting.
“With reality TV, there’s been a lotof suicides. A lot of mental issues and illnesses,” she says, thinking of the pressures put on today’s overnight sensations. “I think it’s because they’re thrown into it so suddenly. I’m so glad that I had experience of going to drama school and that I also had my mum come with me to my photo shoots to make sure I was respected and looked after.”
With her late father Pat opening and screening the thousands of letters that would find their way to the family home addressed to “Samantha Fox from Page Three, North London”, she was also protected from any nastiness or inappropriate messages.
“But I bet you in those letters, they’d still be girls saying horrible things,” she says. “I’d say to young girls now not to read those messages and comments. Because trolls are only ever going to have a go anyway.”
Performing came easily to Sam – “It’s one of those things that comes natural to you or not” – but she admits she had to work to shake off her tomboy style in those early days and mum Carole, 77, who she calls “my rock”, was also there to help out.
As a former fashion model, it was her job to show Sam how to act. “Mum told me I walked like a navvy!,” she laughs, recalling how emergency action was needed before attending her first celebrity movie premiere.
“I’d become famous and was suddenly in high heels and sexy dresses. Mum puta book on my head and taught me to put one foot in front of the other. And I’d read about Marilyn Monroe, Brigitte Bardot and Diana Dors to see how they behaved and dealt with the paparazzi. I learned so much from those women, I really did.”
Sam, who married Linda Olsen, 48, from Norway, last year, says her mum was there for her when she came out as gay in 2003.
“‘Oh, I’ve known that since you were 11,’ she told me. I was like, ‘Thanks, Mum!’”
Having had “wonderful love affairs with guys, but never someone I could imagine spending the rest of my life with”, the star admits it took some time to follow her heart.
“I mean, I guess growing up I wasn’t sure and thought maybe I was just having ‘a moment’. But then you’d have a few of those and think, ‘Oh, I might be gay.’ Back in the 80s you thought if you were, then you couldn’t have children and I always wanted them. So for many years, I was trying to fight it a little bit. But the more experiences that I did have with womenI definitely knew that I was.”
Meeting Linda and finding love again wasn’t in the plan in the dark days before and after losing her long-term partner and manager, Myra Stratton, to cancer in 2015.
“Linda was in a relationship and I was looking after Myra, who was terminally ill,” remembers Sam, who was with Myra for sixteen years.
“It was traumatic, knowing I was goingto lose Myra. She was told she’d havetwo years if she fought strong and shedid – she was a fighter. So I couldn’t think about anything else during those times.
“I was really quite lost and it was a very difficult time for me but I grew up as well. The last thing I thought about was finding anyone else because it takes a long timeto get over something like that.
“But Linda and I met when she came along to a meet-and-greet event in Oslo. Then we had two years of just sayinghello at gigs. I eventually asked my tour manager to get her number and it wasthe only time I’ve ever asked anyoneout on a date. I realised that she was absolutely gorgeous inside and out.We had an instant connection.
Linda, who used to have photos of her “celebrity crush” Sam on her wall as a teen, has now brought sons Noah and Adam into Sam’s world.
“Linda was one of the first women to go to Denmark to get artificially inseminated and she has two beautiful 20- and 21-year-old boys. The best thing that can happen for anybody is to have someone who brings a ray of sunshine into their life,” she smiles.
The couple are obviously besotted, although Sam admits her disorganisation can cause friction.
“I drive Linda mad when I pack my suitcase at the last minute before a tripbut then we share make-up and socks… though she wears g-strings and I don’tlike them. After years of doing underwear shoots I’d rather go commando,”she laughs.
“I love being married. I adore saying ‘my wife’ when I talk about her. It was beautiful writing our first anniversary card recently and planning a romantic meal at the Maddox Tavern in Mayfair. Just to know that I’m going to be with Linda for the rest of my life makes me feel secure and happy.”
“I’ve been lucky in love,” admits Sam.“I just had to kiss a few frogs before I found my princess.”
The bubbly star has no doubt found comfort in having such a loving family around her, as she’s faced some incredibly tough times in the year since marrying.
Tragically, her younger sister Vanessa died suddenly of a heart attack in March, aged just 50, and chatty Sam falters a little as she tells us how she and her mum are “bearing up” in the time since her passing. “I’m not going to say too much about my sister. Of course I mean, as we all get older, I think we have to deal with a lot more death. We’re getting old. But I do want to say that we all have to live life like there’s no tomorrow as we never know what tomorrow brings.”
Sam has been focusing on her health and diet, having also had to deal with a cancer scare last year, that saw surgeons remove a growth from her vocal chords.” The relief I felt when I was given the all clear was like a ten-tonne weight being lifted off my shoulders – having gone through this with Myra all I could think about was, is this it? It certainly put things into perspective: my health, my amazing wife, stepping up my focus on living long and healthier – I want to grow really old and celebrate my 20th anniversary with Linda. 30th even!
“My voice is back where it was if not better. I’ve been back-to-back on tour this year – next stop the USA. To think this time last year I thought I’d never sing again!”
“During Covid, I put on about a stone.I had no motivation – half of our new kitchen was stuck in Germany and then our wedding was cancelled, so it was like, ‘Well, let’s just have another takeaway and watch another movie.’ When I saw Jane Plan on Facebook and decided to try their meals, I was really happy when I lost half a stone by our rescheduled wedding day last June. It looked like home cooked food [not] shakes and there are treats as well, which was great as I love food. Since then I’ve got back to eight stone, which is perfect for me.”
Sam’s now an ambassador for Jane Plan as the diet has worked so well for her, but admits, “I’ve been trying not to lose too much weight from my face because that can be ageing.”
When we ask about her experienceof the menopause, the straight-talkingstar explains she had more than creepy crawlies to cope with during her 2009 appearance on I’m A Celebrity.
“The beginning of my menopause was absolutely awful – it started when I wasin the jungle,” she recalls. “I remember waking up [and] my head was soaked– I was thinking, ‘What’s going on here?’ I’d say to people, ‘Was it raining last night?’ because I was soaking wet. So that was the start of the night sweats whichI got quite bad.
“I did try hormone treatment for a little while but I got scared becausemy mum had breast cancer and I was advised by my GP not to do it. So Igot through it witha good diet, cod liver oil, evening primrose oiland vitamins.
“I still get the flushes now and again but my nan used to say, it was good to sweat because if you’re keeping it all inside you’ll go a little bit crazy. So at least I know I’m not going to go mad – I’ve been waiting for it after forty years in this business!”
Writing new music and playing at international festivals, Sam tells us how much she loves seeing fans with theirkids on their shoulders wearing Samantha Fox T-shirts. “My music is reaching new generations, which I love,” adding playfully, “and obviously I also get a lot more girls at my shows now, so I don’t get underpants thrown on stage, I get bras!”
As Sam reflects on four decades in showbiz, she is moving on with some exciting projects based around her own talents and colourful life experiences.
First up, she’ll beon the latest Celebrity MasterChef. Although staying tight-lipped about her performance on the show, she says, “It’s a programme I’ve watched for many years because I love cooking. When I got asked to do it I was over the moon. What can I say? I was very nervous because I’d watch it and think, ‘Oh, I’m not as good as that.’ But I’m always willing to learn something new.
“Anyway, me and Gregg Wallace goton really well because he comes froma family of fruit and veg people and was asking about mine as a lot of them are greengrocers too. So we had a bit of chat about Chapel Market and we had a lot of people in common.”
Also cooking away nicely – and inspired by a hit Netflix documentary by fellow 80s icon Pamela Anderson – Sam reveals that she is welcoming a fly-on-the-wall team into her life, allowing the public to see the real Samantha Fox. So why give a camera crew access all areas?
She explains, “If you stopped 100 people on the road and asked them about me, they’d say ‘Page Three’. They don’trealise I’ve sold 36 million records and get mobbed in some countries or that I sing for our troops or went double platinum in the States. I don’t think many people realise the amount of work that I do all around the world. I’m a great British export and I want to be seen through a fresh lens.”
There will also be a TV drama basedon Sam’s life story, with the hunt on tofind up-and-coming actresses to play her at different life stages. “It’s going to be amazing. It’ll be big, colourful, fast… with plenty of ups and downs. It’ll be emotional and funny. I’ve had such an exciting life – it’s been like a roller-coaster.”
And what about further into the future? Sam tells us that playing Glastonbury would be a “dream come true” and she’d love to duet with Dolly Parton, laughing, “Imagine trying to fit us both on the front of an album, they’d have to do a gatefold sleeve.”
With her sense of humour and infectious zest for life, we suspect she may be onher way to growing old disgracefully. “Well, I’ll probably be just the same, maybe alittle bit shorter if I shrink any more,” she giggles. “I think I’m probably going to be quite a childish old lady.”
