|
‘MY NEAR-DEATH HOSPITAL DASH WAS BECAUSE OF A SHEEP’
Tara is currently presenting Dirty Cows on LIVINGTV, Wednesdays at 9pm
Tara Palmer-Tomkinson talks 19 to the dozen, has obscene amounts of verve, and a wonderfully mischievous manner that makes you warm to her immediately. She’s game for anything and can’t wait to get stuck into our shoot – despite the fact it’s down the local farm, and will definitely involve wellies, mud, assorted farmyard animals and cowpats. Tara doesn’t care.
‘I’m not squeamish,’ she bellows. ‘God no. I grew up in the countryside. This is the girl who survived the jungle. And I’ve just gone and got my hands grubby doing my new show, Dirty Cows, in Cornwall. I’ve been over seeing city girls plucking wood pigeons, shearing sheep and milking cows. You name it, I’ve tried it. Game on.’
Tara’s new show is the reason for our farm-themed shoot today. She’s the host and mentor of 10 city gals battling it out to win the affections of sexy farmer (and wealthy landowner) Alexy Van Kimmenade. The glitch is they’re more country casuals than country bumpkins, and the manicured look isn’t all that practical when you’re learning to farm salmon…
‘When I first saw the girls I thought they all looked good, but for a reality show I wouldn’t say they’re exactly real,’ says Tara. ‘Their nails, boobs and half their hair are all fake… but they’re charming and I became very protective of them. And despite not being country girls, they put their heart and souls into it. Even the poor vegetarian, Danielle, who didn’t exactly love gutting birds.’
Tara’s first snap of the day is in a hay-strewn barn. A gaggle of school children wander past and take a peek. ‘I bet they all thought they’d look in here and see an animal,’ laughs Tara. ‘But not this kind of animal, grrr. Ha ha!’
At 5ft 7in, Tara is tall and slender and, in her sleeveless top, has noticeably toned arms – although she can’t understand why. ‘I don’t do anything,’ she says. ‘They’re just like that. Well, I skiied for the national team when I was younger, but that’s it. The most annoying thing is my arms are really veiny. And I get ludicrous comments in magazines saying, “Tara’s arms are veiny. It must be drugs.” For God’s sake, if I was a drug addict I wouldn’t have veins! It’s annoying, so I always hold my arms up in the air in the car on the way to events to get rid of them. Then as soon as I’m on the red carpet I put them down. It’s just genes, I suppose.’
Much has been made of Tara’s past battle with cocaine, but it’s no longer an issue for the former party girl. Recently she revealed she’d had to distance herself from certain social groups – most notably Kate Moss – in order to stay clean. ‘I had to back off from that scene a long time ago,’ she says. And now she’s incredulous at the very mention of her taking drugs. ‘As if! I mean really.’
And the same indignance spills over into the reaction over her collapse and hospital dash while filming Dirty Cows. She didn’t want to make a big deal of it at the time. ‘I thought, I can just imagine they’d turn it into “Tara collapses of an overdose” or something ridiculous, when it turns out I’m allergic to sheep, their wool, or something they’re sprayed with.’ Either way it was the most ‘terrifying’ experience of Tara’s life.
‘What a drama!’ she shouts. ‘What happened was I was wrestling with this ram, so we could shear him, and before I knew it, my tongue and neck had swollen up so much I couldn’t breathe or swallow. A minute later I’d collapsed. After that, all I can recall is being in the ambulance. You hear horror stories that the person is dead within five minutes, and I really thought that might happen. I’ll tell you why I thought it – they were getting those cardiac arrest shock wave things out for me, for when I did die!’
Thankfully, Tara made it through and it didn’t hamper her overall experience. ‘I had a brilliant time,’ she says. ‘Apart from the sheep-near-death thing.’
And although she didn’t pick the eligible bachelor, she did put her foot down when she saw the programme’s first choice.
‘The first guy I thought no, no. No one’s going to want him. He was behaving like Mariah Carey before we’d even started. But Alexy was worth slumming it for. He’s cute. I’d be interested if I was 10 years younger. He looks like Brad Pitt. And bless the girls, when he came to evict them there were genuine tears.’
Being a woman of the world (and currently single) Tara had a few words of advice for her protégés.
‘Let’s face it, Alexy had a box of Quality Street. The girls all looked fab. But I was worried initially when I saw the amount of toupée tape and flimsy dresses they’d packed. My advice would be don’t wear a see-through dress on a first date – it’s intimidating.’
So has all this talk of eligible men made Tara want to search for her own Mr Right? In the past she’s been linked to the likes of Robbie Williams and James Blunt, but she’s adamant she’s yet to find the real deal.
‘Am I hunting for him?’ she guffaws. ‘I’ve been hunting for 35 years. No, I’m joking. My life functions fantastically when I don’t have a man. In this business, I think it’s very hard to have a relationship. It’s an emotional stress, because I’m photographed everywhere, so if I do find happiness, it gets ruined by gossip: “What’s she doing with him?” I need someone strong who can turn away from it all.’ And Tara reckons she’s a past master at ignoring gossip herself.
‘Luckily, after however many years I’ve been in the public eye, I don’t care. I don’t even read papers. But when someone is dating me there’s a pressure, and they can get all jealous and upset easily.’
But Tara is a big advocate of fate and isn’t the least bit worried about being single. And if her biological clock is ticking, she’s certainly not hearing it.
‘I genuinely haven’t given much thought to finding The One,’ she says. ‘My friends are always saying, “Oh, I have the perfect man for you. Meet him!”
I’m like, “Forget it.” The thing is, I surround myself with my friends – and there’s a lot of them. Every night my house is full of mates, and I wouldn’t want to give that up. I’d have to find someone who could get on with them, which I can imagine might be intimidating. It’s tricky. Perhaps that’s why I’ve given up.’
And as for the 2.4-kids-white-picket-fence fantasy, Tara just says no.
Although she loves her nieces and nephews, her sister Santa and brother James are welcome to it.
‘My sister and brother have fantastic kids and I love caring for them, but children are another job in itself. I often think, “God, how do they do it?”’
But she’s keen to point out she isn’t playing the chaste convent girl either.
‘I’m not going into it, but don’t worry – I am getting “it”!’ she laughs with a wink. ‘I’m not short of men, let’s just say that, ha ha. So it’s not all bad.’
She explains, ‘I like honeymoon periods, you see, and I want it to always feel like that. I guess when Mr Right comes along I’ll know, because it’ll always feel like the honeymoon period.’
TARA ON...
BEING A CITY GIRL THROUGH AND THROUGH…
‘I did grow up in the country, but you won’t find me moving there full-time,’ says Tara. ‘Although I couldn’t wait to get down to the Cornwall countryside to film Dirty Cows, by the end, my God, I wanted the smell of the London pavements. I missed it. Variety is the spice of life.’
PLANNING AHEAD
‘Where do I see myself in five years? Dead! Ha ha! I hope not – I am joking, by the way. I love life and I’ve got so much to do, but I don’t have a plan. I can’t tell you where I’ll be in five, 10 or 15 years. If I had the answer to that, I’d have the answer to a lot more things. I’m happy to leave my life to the hands of fate.’
[/url=http://www.sundaymirror.co.uk/showbiz/celebsonsunday/2007/08/19/my-near-death-hospital-dash-was-because-of-a-sheep-98487-19620369/]Sundaymirror
|
