MUM-OF-TWO Gemma Atkinson credits her 5am exercise sessions for being in the best shape of her life at 40.
It is a far cry from her twenties when the straight-talking former Hollyoaks actress admits she preferred to keep fit working up a sweat between the sheets.
Gemma, who has subsequently overhauled her look, has no regrets over her wild youth before finding her Strictly dancer fiancé, Gorka Marquez.
She said: "I've done the, people say walk of shame. I call it a stride of pride, across someone's landing, praying that their mum or dad doesn't come out of a bedroom.
"No interaction. Don't make eye contact — you don't want to know what I have just done to your son the night before.
"Don't look at me."
'Best I've felt'
And the man hunt extended abroad, with wild girls' holidays to Majorca.
She said: "We used to love Magaluf. It was all two-star apartments.
"The club BCM — next to it there is this grey tower of apartments. Two-star!
"We used to fly and stay there for the weekend with the girls and wait for all the lads from BCM to come out. It was awful."
Today Gemma is looking forward to marrying Gorka, 34, who she met on Strictly in 2017, and counting down every moment with their daughter Mia, five, and one-year-old son Thiago.
Having been surprised at how long it took to recover after welcoming her second child via a Caesarean, Gemma has a newfound determination to be healthy.
She wakes up at 4.30am before then throwing herself into a kettlebell-and-cardio routine designed by personal trainer Elliott Upton at her home gym in Manchester.
She often has an ice bath to speed up her recovery.
Gemma told Women's Health magazine: "I gradually built myself back up to where I am now — I feel the best I've felt.
"So, it's taken more than a year, but I just did it in my own time, at my own pace — and now I feel great."
She has now been in the spotlight for half of her life after joining Channel 4 soap Hollyoaks as Lisa Hunter aged 17.
She has also had roles in Emmerdale and Casualty, but it was her stint on I'm A Celeb in 2007, where she came fifth, and later Strictly, that made her a household name.
The Hits Radio show host says it was an open secret among the crew of the BBC dance show that she was dating Gorka.
He was partnered with singer Alexandra Burke, while Gemma was with Slovenian pro Aljaz Skorjanec.
The couple did not go public with their relationship until Valentine's Day in 2018, when Gemma posted a loved-up picture of them on holiday.
Gorka proposed in 2021, and Gemma shared the news online, writing: "Valentine's forever. Of course I said yes."
They then allowed cameras to follow their lives for two series of channel W's Gemma & Gorka: Life Behind The Lens.
Their wedding has been pushed back repeatedly due to work commitments, but Gemma says she knows she has finally found The One.
'Sliding doors moment'
It is hopefully third time lucky, as Gemma has been engaged twice before — though never married.
She agreed to marry footballer Marcus Bent in 2008 despite their on-off relationship, but they later split.
She also dated Cristiano Ronaldo.
Then Britain's Got Talent finalist and martial-arts expert Liam Richards proposed, but they called time on their romance in 2010.
Speaking on her own podcast, The Overshare, she said: "You are not always meant to be with that one person. I have been engaged before. This is my third engagement.
"Me and Gorka discussed it. He is the only person I said, 'Yeah, I would love to marry you'."
"The other two just proposed. I was like, 'Ahh, Yes'. Six weeks later, I was like, 'I can't do it'. You just know.
"People do sometimes go through with an engagement or wedding knowing it is the wrong person — but a fear of, 'How do you get out of it?' But imagine trying to get out of a divorce. It is even harder."
Gemma also revealed she crossed paths with Gorka before appearing on Strictly, while abroad with a boyfriend.
She said: "I was on holiday with my [now] ex and we were dancing in the Bahamas. And unbeknown to me a cruise ship pulled up on the beachfront and we were stood with some drinks, pointing at the cruise ship going, 'Oh look, it is massive'.
"And Gorka was performing on that cruise ship. We worked this out.
"I was there with my ex who at the time I thought, 'I am going to marry, have kids, this is it'. Three months later, turns out he had another life elsewhere — another partner.
You can't tar all men with the same brush. But it is hard when you have been so emotionally and
Gemma
mentally damaged. Thankfully, there are some good ones out there
"But then I met Gorka. It is the whole sliding-doors moment. We were in the same country without even knowing, both of us together."
Having dated a string of bad boys, Gemma is thrilled she has met one of the "good ones" in Gorka.
She said: "You can't tar them all [men] with the same brush. But it is hard when you have been so emotionally and mentally damaged.
"They are not all the same. Thankfully there are some good ones."
Gemma adds that son Thiago is the double of Gorka and she feels particularly protective of him.
She said: "I know my little girl's going to be fine. She's clued up, she's sassy. Thiago is a bit more soft, like his dad.
"But I would never interfere. My role is to let them make the mistakes but always be there."
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