I thought Lempit Opik was the village idiot but now I’d love to date him

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Janie Lawrence10 April 2012

If you're a male reader familiar with lads mags then you probably need no introduction to former FHM Highstreet Honey and topless calendar girl Katie Green.

A tabloid staple, Green, 23, has been the face of Wonderbra and Ultimo and recently appeared in Get Him to the Greek with Russell Brand. Along the way there's been some lurid headlines, topless pictures on assorted beaches and the obligatory kiss 'n' tell from an ex-boyfriend.

In the flesh, Green is friendly and deliciously forthright. She is the face of Chesca NOW, the newly launched fashion line for the plus-sized, and she has joined forces with Lembit Opik in the "Say No to Size Zero" campaign — an attempt to stop the fashion industry from using catwalk models with an unhealthy BMI (Body Mass Index) of below 18.

Green and the 45-year-old flamboyant former Lib-Dem MP have been spotted out and about. They met at a party when Green approached Opik to discuss the campaign. He recognised her from the Wonderbra adverts and rang her the next day and invited her to the House of Commons to discuss it. "We spent the afternoon riding up and down the corridors on Segways (two-wheeled, battery-powered vehicles)," Green says of their first "date".

Green is a natural beauty with sparkling espresso-brown eyes and the swishy, glossy mane of a shampoo ad. Lembit Opik is twice her age and his charms — how should one put it? — are not quite as visible. Still there's no doubting his impressive female track record, which raises the questions: what's his secret?

"There's always more to someone than their looks," says Green. "Although, to be honest, before I met him I thought he was the village idiot. Then when I met him I completely changed my views. He's happy to admit that he's a village idiot, he knows he is and plays up to it and that's his trademark."

Green supported his debut as a stand-up comic at the Comedy Store in June. "He's the most charming, lovely guy and very good company. I can't stand immature men and he's the older man who makes me laugh."

Does she think he's fanciable? "Oh yes, definitely," she retorts. Would she like to go out with him? "Yes," she shoots back. "I think he's lovely. He's so thoughtful, extremely gentlemanly and very respectful. But he's very busy now so unfortunately I'm not even seeing him at the moment." Most middle-aged bespectacled blokes would pay good money for this gushing endorsement — and clear their diaries.

But as if that weren't enough to make Lembit Opik's head swell, it appears that even ladies man Russell Brand is no match for the Lib-Dem. Green was only on set for one day of filming but allegedly Brand — pre-Katy Perry — still found time to make a play.

"I was just a girl in a nightclub that Russell Brand liked the look of and all I had to do was smile sweetly. He approached me in between scenes and asked me on a date." She launches into a wicked impersonation of Brand: "It was something like 'How about you and I go on a little adventure then?' I just said, No thank you.'" Wasn't she even a teeny bit tempted? "No, I didn't like him. He seemed shocked when I said no. I think he expects women to fall at his feet and I don't think that's a nice trait in men. I wanted to give him a good wash, a good scrub."

Green, the youngest of four siblings, was brought up in West Sussex. She was working as a £5-an-hour shop assistant at New Look in Chichester, and about to apply to join Hampshire Police, when she landed the Wonderbra gig after attending an audition.

She was referred to Premier Model Agency, which wanted to sign her but a week later asked her to lose two stone. At 5ft 10in and weighing 10 stone 5lb (her BMI is 21.5) Green is a size 12. "They put me on the scales, pinched my fat and said, Right we want you to lose from here and here'. They wanted me to go to a size 8."

Desperate not to blow her big career break, Green agreed, "They gave me a gym regime to try and banned me from eating carbohydrates after 4pm every day. I left in floods of tears and then starved myself for a week. I lied to my parents about whether I'd had dinner but after seven days I was a wreck. I can't sacrifice my health and happiness so I told them to shove it."

After Green told her story, Michelle Mone asked her to be the new face of her lingerie label, Ultimo. Green is now signed up to an agency that specialises in plus-size girls. "It's such a relief to be sent to castings where I don't have to suck in or dress to cover my curves. The fashion industry is about boyish and heroin-addict looking figures. I don't consider myself big at all — I consider myself healthy."

She is passionate about the Say No campaign and hopes that it will make a difference: "I don't think we can point a finger at anybody — it's everybody: the models, the designers, the owners of the company. I had an argument with a fashion designer recently who admitted he used very skinny girls because it saves on expensive fabric.

"I've gone onto anorexia websites and the pictures they use for thinspiration' are heartbreaking but girls print them off and put them on their bedroom walls. I've had lots of letters from young girls saying it's so nice to see a curvier role model, so if I can save one girl from being anorexic then I've succeeded."

Chesca NOW is available at selected John Lewis stores from September, plus Chesca stores and chescadirect.co.uk

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