Former Page 3 model and 1980s music star Samantha Fox is returning to our TV screens tonight as she takes part in Celebrity MasterChef on BBC One.
Sam Fox was a household name in the 1980s, having soared to fame as a 16-year-old glamour model and launching a music career off the back of it.
Tonight she will do battle with the likes of Jamelia, Cheryl Hole and Locksmith as she strives to impress John Torode and Gregg Wallace.
But Samantha's life has been tinged with loss after a legal battle with her dad and the death of her partner after 'coming out' 16 years before.
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How old is Samantha Fox, her page 3 topless modelling and her music career
Samantha Fox is now 57 years old but her modelling career couldn't happen today the way it started. It began in 1983 when her parents sent photos of her in lingerie to The Sunday People's Girl of The Year contest and she went on to pose topless for The Sun on page 3 at the age of 16 with written permission from her parents.
She became a well known UK glamour model for several years before using her fame to launch a singing career - and in the time since her hit UK albums she has continued to tour and perform in America after finding popularity there back in the 1980s.
Samantha Fox's Spotify profile reads: "When she was 16 years old, Samantha Fox rose to stardom in Britain as a topless model in the Sun newspaper. Fox's popularity as a model soon led to a record contract.
"She released her first single Touch Me (I Want Your Body) in 1986 at the age of 20.
"Throughout her career, Fox always accentuated her sex appeal, making it take priority over her music. Nevertheless, she had a fairly long string of hits, beginning with the UK number three single Touch Me. Do Ya, Do Ya (Wanna Please Me) followed her debut single in the Top 10.
Speaking to the Metro about her taking part in Celebrity MasterChef, she distanced herself from her modelling beginnings and focused on the music career she's enjoyed since.
She said: "‘They don’t say singer Samantha Fox and realise I sold 35million albums worldwide, so people must think what have I been doing since 86?"
"I want my country to realise I had many albums out and another one on the way, and I’m very proud to say I’m still one of the very few female artists to break America"
Sam Fox's sexuality, her partner now and tragic loss of Myra Stratton
Sam began dating Australian career criminal Peter Foster in the 80s and he even proposed to her, but she turned him down.
She also dated Kiss guitarist Paul Stanley. Years later, in 2003, Samantha made a statement about her sexuality, confirming she had been in love with her manager Myra Stratton.
She said: "I have slept with other women but I've not been in love before Myra Stratton. People say I'm gay. All I know is that I'm in love with Myra. I love her completely and want to spend the rest of my life with her."
But Myra tragically died of cancer in 2015 and Sam told the Mirror how she didn't know if she would ever find anyone else.
She said: "“It was traumatic, knowing I was going to lose Myra. She was told she’d have two years if she fought strong and she did – 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 time to 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 saying hello at gigs. I eventually asked my tour manager to get her number and it wasthe only time I’ve ever asked anyone out on a date. I realised that she was absolutely gorgeous inside and out. We had an instant connection."
Sam then went on to marry Linda Olsen, 48, last year and told the Mirror how her mum had been there for her when she came out.
She said: "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 women I definitely knew that I was.”
Sam Fox's legal battle with father
Sam's dad Patrick, who was a former carpenter, had managed her career until she hired a team of accountants in the early 90s. She sued her father over a disagreement about her finances and in May 1995 she was awarded £363,000 in a court settlement.
When her dad died in 2000, it's been reported that the pair hadn't spoken to each other for nearly 10 years.
Sam Fox is on Celebrity MasterChef on BBC One at 9pm on August 16.
