‘I don’t regret my topless shots but my daughter will probably hate them’: New mum Helen Flanagan talks leaving her glamour days behind

HELEN Flanagan has undergone a serious transformation.

When we meet on the set of our shoot, her shortish hair is scraped back (the voluminous extensions binned), and she sports flat sandals and a low-key, non-flesh-flashing combo of cute bomber jacket and comfy jeans. But it doesn’t stop there.

The reinvention extends to her general demeanour, too.

Gone is the fragile and stroppy girl that appeared (often in fits of snotty tears) in the I’m A Celebrity! jungle in 2012.

The person in front of us today is calm, collected and very, very content.

And the reason behind this remarkable turnaround? A super-cute bundle of energy, that’s what.

Helen has brought her 13-month-old daughter Matilda – with her Aston Villa footballer boyfriend of seven years Scott Sinclair, 27 – along to the shoot, and soon enough Matilda has everyone eating out of the palm of her hand.

It’s clear that Helen, 25, is head-over-heels besotted.

“I absolutely love being a mum and every stage of it,” she says.

“She’s my dream come true. I don’t take it for granted – I feel so grateful every day.”

You can tell.

Helen proudly watches as Matilda takes several wobbly steps across the room (in a pair of £135 Sophia Webster butterfly baby pumps, no less), giggles as she bobs along to the studio music and snuggles her close when she briefly starts to cry.

Helen credits the toddler for what is a seismic change in her life.

“I feel like I’ve massively matured now I’ve got Matilda,” she says.

“It’s definitely changed me for the better and made me happy, because I feel that it’s given me a reason. Everything gets put into perspective. You think: ‘Well, as long as she’s healthy and alright…’ It gives a meaning to your life.”

Did she not have that before then?

“I suppose I felt a bit lost, and now I’m a mum I don’t feel that way,” Helen replies softly.

For someone who appeared to have it all, her statement might come as a shock.

Helen grew up alongside siblings Jane, 35, Tom, 33, and Jessica, 23, in Bury, Greater Manchester, before her nursery nurse mum Julia, 57, started taking her to a local drama class aged five.

Fast-forward four years and Helen landed the role of Rosie Webster in Coronation Street, with Julia and dad Paul, 58, an electrical contractor, acting as her chaperones.

She spent 12 successful years growing up in the spotlight playing the loveable airhead, before leaving in February 2012 when her character received an opportunity to take part in a fictional reality TV series.

Life really did imitate art, as months later Helen appeared on I’m A Celebrity!, finishing in seventh place.
A modelling career followed, as did her first-ever topless snap for The Sun’s Page 3, and she was voted FHM’s Sexiest Woman In The UK.

She also partied her way around the capital’s red carpets, clad in cleavage-enhancing designer dresses and often accompanied by her footie-player beau.

However, Helen still felt there was something missing.

At the tail end of 2013, she revealed her desire to become a young mum, calling herself “the broodiest woman in Britain”.

She finally got her wish and fell pregnant, giving birth to Matilda in June last year.

“I feel like I was supposed to be a mum. It would have been great to have a baby younger, but then I wouldn’t have had Matilda, and my boyfriend wasn’t ready,” she says.

“I was 24 when we agreed to try for Matilda, and I was pregnant within two to three months, so it was quite quick.”

Helen’s previous lack of contentment with life can be traced back to her struggles with low self-esteem.

She blamed bullies who picked on her appearance and bravely spoke of her battles with depression and anxiety, revealing she was prescribed medicine for bipolar disorder and attention deficit syndrome.

Four years on, and Helen’s determined to be happy and healthier for the sake of her young daughter.

“I’ve always struggled with anxiety,” she says.

“It’s horrible and can control your life. Matilda inspires me to be the best person I can be and I don’t want to pass any negative energy or behaviour down to her, so I’ve been seeing a therapist once a week for a while and things have really improved. CBT [cognitive behavioural therapy] gets to the root of any problem, so I feel in a good place now. It’s something I will always work on, but I don’t take medication any more.”

As well as tackling her mental health issues head-on, Helen has different views on her public image since becoming a mum.

Rather than the attention-seeking quotes she once dished out to sit alongside her provocative glamour-girl shots, Helen now carefully considers every question and her response.

Her piercing blue eyes open wide in anticipation of what she’s going to be asked, and she admits she’s nervous.

It’s crystal clear Helen’s determined to be an inspiring influence for her daughter.

“To be honest with you, when I was pregnant it did scare me a bit that I was having a girl. I was thinking: ‘That’s serious pressure.’

“I will be her role model, and it makes you want to change things about yourself. I really try to watch what I say now. I’d die if Matilda swore.

“I was recently looking at my Instagram [from before Matilda] and thinking: ‘Oh my god, were you off your head? What the hell?’ There was a picture of me in my flat in some underwear and I thought: ‘Why would you ever do that?’

“I now carefully analyse what I put on my Instagram account. When Matilda was born, I was so proud and put lots of pictures up, but it gave me anxiety because you don’t actually know who the hell is looking at your account. It really freaked me out and I didn’t think it was responsible.”

Does that new sense of responsibility extend to saying no to topless photos? Helen once said she had the “best boobs in the world, ever”.

“I’ve only done one topless picture [the Page 3 one],” she says.

“That was just me and my photographer friend messing about in my flat because I really like doing shoots. But I don’t regret the picture or any of the glamour modelling. When you’re younger, it’s a nice way to make money and I really enjoyed it. When Matilda’s older, she’ll probably absolutely cringe and be like: ‘Mum, that’s so embarrassing.’”

So Helen won’t be pulling a Kim K and perching a glass of champagne on her fully nude bod to celebrate her post-pregnancy figure?

“Oh no, that’s not something I’ll be doing,” she laughs.

“I feel I’m a bit cautious now I’m a mum. I want to give a different image. But then again, I don’t think there’s anything really wrong with celebrating a body. I haven’t got her figure, anyway!”

Helen is being very modest.

Standing in her denim shorts and biker leathers, she’s the smoking-hot definition of yummy mummy.

She’s dropped a dress size since having Matilda and is now a size 6-8.

Her famous 32DD assets have shrunk, too, which she puts down to breastfeeding.

“I did it for about nine months, and it does change your body. I had to stop breastfeeding because she was a bit underweight, so I put her on the bottle. I think it’s a lovely thing if you can do it, though. I never really got the hang of doing it in public because I always felt a bit self-conscious.

“When I saw a woman breastfeeding, I used to go: ‘Well done! I wish I could be as confident.’”

Her svelte shape has definitely not come from rigorous workouts.

She hasn’t found time for a single gym session since giving birth, preferring to spend any spare time with her daughter, but she has no urges to get back on the treadmill.

“I feel really body-confident. Now I’m a mum, I want to watch how I come across to Matilda. I don’t want her hearing me complaining about how I look or talking about diets or my weight. I want her to see me eating healthily and properly, because you have such an impact as a mum. So I’ll always tell her she’s beautiful and strong, because I want to keep a positive energy around her and I don’t want her to think anything of body image.”

Helen’s only attempt at exercise failed when a call from Scott cut short her swimming session, with him pleading: “Babe, you really need to come back,” after he was left holding the baby.

It’s clear Helen is a natural when it comes to parenting.

“I remember when I brought Matilda home I felt so overwhelmed by everything,” she admits.

“I’d never even changed a nappy before. But you just find your own way, and within a month you’re like a pro.”

She says she takes on the bulk of parenthood chores because of Scott’s busy work schedule and her refusal to employ a nanny, though she’s assisted by mum Julia – who has accompanied her on the shoot – and Scott’s mum Sally, 47.

“I’ll be honest – I’m more of the nappy-changer and have been the one that’s always getting up in the night,” she says.

“But I think that’s fair enough because Scott’s been working and I took some time off [work].

“If Scott notices I’m tired then he’ll step in. But I just get on with it – I don’t mind or complain.”

She visibly softens when she talks about Scott’s relationship with his baby girl.

“Scott loves Matilda to bits,” she says.

“There’s such a likeness to him, and I think she’s going to be sporty because she’s so active.”

The couple have been together for seven years after meeting in Manchester’s Trafford Centre through a mutual friend of Helen’s former Corrie co-star Brooke Vincent.

But with baby Sinclair now at the centre of their lives, Helen confesses they have struggled to get their romance back on track and are in no rush to walk down the aisle just yet.

“It has massively changed our dynamic because you don’t really have any time together,” she says.

“I think, in a way, that’s why we’re not planning another one any time soon. We are still quite young and like going out. Once a month we’ll go to London for the weekend and stay in a hotel and our parents will look after Matilda.

“I always try to make the effort when we go out. Before, you used to have a lot of time to do your make-up and plan your outfit. Now you don’t feel your most glamorous self and live in leggings with baby food down you.

“I do need to change Matilda’s routine so that me and Scott have a little bit more time together. Matilda doesn’t go to bed until 10.30pm or 11pm and gets up around nine or 10am.

“I also need to get her out of our bed as Scott and I need it back!”

Aah, that infamous bed.

Helen sparked a huge parenting debate after revealing they sleep with their toddler. It’s a matter the actress is keen to clear up today.

“I would never promote co-sleeping with a newborn baby,” she says.

“I even used to get bad nightmares that she was suffocating when she was in her Moses basket. I only started to sleep with Matilda when she was about four or five months old, because I was still breastfeeding.

“It’s now a habit, because it’s the only way I get a good night’s sleep. Every time I try to put her in the cot she wakes up crying and ends up coming to our bed.”

Helen now classes herself as a full-time mum, but she hasn’t ruled out a return to the Street.

No doubt this will please show bosses, who, according to reports, are keen to entice her back.

“I wouldn’t want to spend much time away from Matilda because I think I’d miss a lot of her growing up and she’s all I’ve ever wanted,” Helen admits.

“But I like the idea of having a little bit of work because I think it’s important to do things for yourself. I’d love to do Corrie, but only for a few
months. I don’t know if a permanent thing would be good with Matilda. Because I’m so close to her, we have such a strong bond. I wouldn’t want too big a commitment.”

Suddenly, Matilda cries out and Helen rushes to her side.

Helen grins: “I’m Helen Flanagan the mum now.”