Abi Titmuss

Abigail Evelyn Titmuss (born 8 February 1976) is an English actress, television personality and poker player. She is also a former glamour model and nurse.

Early life and education

Born in Newark-on-Trent in Nottinghamshire, Titmuss grew up in Ruskington, Lincolnshire; both of her parents were teachers. She took her A-levels at Kesteven and Sleaford High School, where she played the clarinet. When she was 17, her parents divorced and her father moved to Argyll, Scotland.

Nursing

Titmuss graduated from City University at the teaching hospital St Bartholomew's Hospital in 1998. She completed a nursing diploma, because she "was interested in becoming a doctor, but hadn't taken A level Chemistry" and became a staff nurse at London's University College Hospital.

Television and radio

Titmuss was hired as a roving reporter on the Channel 4 programme ''Richard & Judy'', in late 2003, and stated at the time that the job was "an absolute dream come true"."Abi Titmuss: If I could meet John Leslie in that bar again"
, FreeNewsPos, 15 July 2013 She lost her job in January 2004 following allegations of group sex with her boyfriend John Leslie. A sex tape from four years earlier emerged, in which she had been privately filmed having sex with Leslie and Aisha Abubakar, an aspiring model."My hell over shabby Abi orgy"
''Daily Mirror'', 7 November 2004 The footage was downloaded without permission from a private computer and made public by " conman" Jason Onabowale, subsequently convicted and sentenced to serve 18 years in jail for four counts of rape.

She appeared on '' Hell's Kitchen'' in 2004 and the following year appeared on Channel 4's ''The Friday Night Project'' as a regular guest; in ''Abi Titmuss: A Modern Day Morality Tale'', a fly-on-the-wall documentary for Channel 4; and on ITV1's '' Celebrity Love Island''.

She starred on a celebrity edition of Channel 4's '' Come Dine with Me'' with Paul Ross, Lesley Joseph, Linda Lusardi and Rodney Marsh.

Titmuss appeared on the reality television series '' Deadline'' with Janet Street Porter on ITV2. The show followed a number of celebrities as they attempted to produce a celebrity-based magazine each week, published as a supplement to '' Closer''. Titmuss was the fourth celebrity to be sacked from the show.

She has guest-presented shows on Virgin Radio, MTV and LBC radio.

Glamour

Titmuss took up presenting on pornographic channel Television X; released a fitness video; put her name to an erotic novel published by Black Lace; and made personal appearances in nightclubs in the UK and Ireland. An initial offer of a photo shoot over two pages of '' FHM'' morphed into a three-page spread and a cover.

In December 2004, Titmuss appeared on the front cover of ''FHM'' again, with Swedish model Victoria Silvstedt, "marking," as she wrote, "the first time a girl was on the FHM cover twice in one year". In 2004 and 2005, she made a total of 38 front-page appearances on British men's magazines, such as ''FHM'', ''Nuts'', ''Zoo Weekly'', '' Loaded'', '' GQ'' and '' Maxim''. She also appeared in the ''Sunday Times Style'' section and in glamour pictures in several tabloid newspapers, including '' The Sun'', ''News of the World'', ''Daily Mirror'', '' The People'' and '' Daily Star''.

In 2005, Titmuss was ranked seventh by readers in ''FHM''s list of 100 Sexiest Women in the World. She started writing a regular sex advice column for the magazine the same year. In 2005, Titmuss appeared in a high fashion shoot in ''Pop'' magazine, which commented on her status as the "face of 21st century celebrity".

In her memoir, Titmuss states how she quickly realised that she wanted more control after seeing magazines pay her for one shoot and then sell the pictures many times over. Accordingly, she started paying for and directing her own shoots, thus owning the copyright over them and selling them herself, along with her manager.

After taking a break from modelling, Titmuss relaunched her glamour career in 2007, this time as a brunette, with an appearance on the cover of ''Zoo Weekly'' and the sale of the official "Abi Titmuss Calendar".

After announcing in late 2007 that she would take a break from her glamour modelling career to concentrate on acting, Titmuss returned with a ''Nuts'' shoot in April 2009 to promote one more calendar.

Acting

Titmuss first acted during her university studies and then took part-time acting courses at the Central School of Speech and Drama, paid for from her nursing work. After reducing her glamour model work, Titmuss took a further short acting course at the same establishment. She also trained at Kensington and Chelsea College.

According to her memoir, the first West End theatre producer to audition her for a role was Marc Sinden:

In March 2006, Titmuss made her London theatre acting début at the Courtyard Theatre in King's Cross, playing a prostitute with a multiple personality disorder in ''Two Way Mirror'' (a combination of the one-act plays ''Elegy for a Lady'' and '' Some Kind of Love Story'' by Arthur Miller);"Abi Titmuss on the latest stage in her colourful life"
''The Independent'', 25 February 2006 for which she won a Fringe Report Award for Best West End Début.

In 2006, Titmuss had a small role in the film '' Goal! 2'' and in the following year appeared in the second series premiere of ''Rob Brydon's Annually Retentive'', which aired on BBC Three; and as a character called Gezebelle in an episode of ''Katy Brand's Big Ass Show'', a sketch comedy series for ITV2.

Between 26 February and 23 March 2008, Titmuss appeared in the black comedy ''Fat Christ'' at the King's Head Theatre in Islington, London.

She has been cast in small roles in the British independent films ''Do Elephants Pray?'' and ''Mixed Up''. In 2008, she played the "Mysterious Girl" in the Beat 24 Films independent feature film ''Frontman''.

In 2009, Titmuss was cast in the 25th anniversary production of John Godber's play ''Up 'n' Under'' at the newly refurbished Hull Truck Theatre, Hull. Titmuss played Hazel, the fitness instructor, starring alongside James Crossley (formerly the Gladiator "Hunter" in the British version of ''Gladiators'') and soap actor Lewis Linford (" Lee Naylor" in '' Emmerdale''). She also had a part in the BBC TV series ''Hotel Babylon'', playing a nun.

In November and December 2009, Titmuss appeared in a production of Shakespeare's ''Macbeth'' with the Seagull Rep, playing the character of Lady Macbeth. The production opened at the Seagull Theatre in Lowestoft before transferring to other East Anglian venues.

In January 2015, Titmuss announced that she had changed her name to Abigail Evelyn, in the context of her relocation to Hollywood, California and her attempts to establish a new career as an actress.

Poker

Titmuss started playing poker "seriously" around 2001."Abi: Women make good poker players"
''Metro'' online, 7 July 2008 In 2008, Titmuss played in "Ante Up For Africa", a charity side-event of the World Series of Poker, in Las Vegas."Time for "poker player" Abi Titmuss to hold 'em"
''Daily Mirror'', 24 July 2008 Ladbrokes Poker started sponsoring her in 2005, when she appeared in the first Ladbrokes Poker European Ladies Championship.

Publications

In 2005, Titmuss produced a book, co-written with Jayne Lockwood, called ''Ten Fantasies'', in which she revealed her "ten most secret sexual fantasies." She stated that she did not want her mother to read it.

On 24 July 2008, her memoir, titled ''The Secret Diaries of Abigail Titmuss'', on which she collaborated with ''Heat'' journalist Lucie Cave, was published by Headline Review. It was written in the form of a diary and is a day-to-day summary of her life for the previous six years. It includes an indepth look into the trial of Titmuss' then-boyfriend John Leslie, who had been accused of rape; her rise to fame; and how she dealt with the tabloids invading her life.

Personal life

Titmuss first came to public attention as the girlfriend of TV presenter John Leslie, whom she met in a Fulham bar on 10 April 1999. In 2017, she married ''Days of Our Lives'' co-star Ari Welkom.

References

Sources

* Titmuss, Abi & Jayne Lockwood. ''Ten Fantasies'', Virgin Books, July 2005,
* Titmuss, Abi & Lucie Cave. ''The Secret Diaries of Abigail Titmuss'', Headline Review, July 2008,

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Titmuss, Abi
1976 births
Living people
Actresses from Lincolnshire
Actresses from Nottinghamshire
Alumni of City, University of London
Alumni of Grantham College
Alumni of the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama
English film actresses
English musical theatre actresses
English stage actresses
English television actresses
English television presenters
Glamour models
Nurses from London
People educated at Kesteven and Sleaford High School
People from Ruskington