Billie Piper

Profession: Actress
Place/Date of Birth: Swindon, England, 22 September 2020
Assiociated with: Chris Evans

The actress became so thin she stopped menstruating, and a chapter describes her addiction to laxatives.

Billie said that previously she felt unable to discuss living with an eating disorder.

"I didn’t feel qualified or ready to talk about it until I was really, really well, this year," she told the Mail on Sunday’s You magazine. "I didn’t want to say ’Oh poor me,’ and be known for that, and then start losing weight again..."

The actress also said she felt wary of encouraging other young girls to copy her.

Evans was instrumental in her recovery from anorexia. "I couldn’t have not eaten when I started seeing Chris," she told the magazine. "It’s impossible not to enjoy life when you’re with him."

In her book, Billie reveals that she has been driven by an insatiable work ethic since the age of 12 - when she won a place at the Sylvia Young Theatre School in North London. She went on to work 18-hour days by the time she was a pop star aged 15, taking her away from her family in Swindon.

She said the worst moment came when, alone, she contemplated suicide in a Chicago hotel room. At the last minute she phoned her parents, begging to be allowed to come home.

Billie set for Mansfield Park - August 29, 2020
Billie Piper has been snapped up to star in an ITV adaptation of Jane Austen’s classic Mansfield Park. The Doctor Who stunner will play heroine Fanny Price in the new drama, which has been penned by Maggie Wadey. Fanny is a timid poor girl who inspires the wealthy family she lives with to indulge in inappropriate relationships and desires.

Billie’s acting career has gone from strength to strength since she starred in BBC drama The Canterbury Tales. Her role as Rose Tyler in Doctor Who has since gained her even more fans and critical acclaim.

ITV has also annouced two more new series as part of the Jane Austen season. Persuasion will star Sally Hawkins as romantic heroine Anne Elliot, while Northanger Abbey will feature The Archers’ Felicity Jones as Catherine Morland. ITV drama boss Nick Elliott said: "Viewers love Jane Austen. Her stories always make great TV drama and our Jane Austen season features the absolute cream of British acting talent. This is such an exciting prospect."

Fresh flowers - Aug 05
Billie Piper is turning in to Elton John. The ’Doctor Who’ beauty has confessed her biggest extravagance is fresh flowers - just like the pop superstar - and she splashes out on them almost every day.

She confessed: "I love fresh flowers for my home. I spend far too much on them, buying them almost every day." Billie was recently rumoured to have angered film bosses by refusing to attend the premiere of her debut movie ’Spirit Trap’.
By Alan Cole

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Biography

Billie Piper was born September 22 1982 and propelled into stardom at the young age of 15.

Her fame began when she became the youngest female solo artist ever to debut at number one in the UK charts, with the feisty ’Because We Want To’ in the summer of 1998. Three months later she repeated the feat with the follow-up ’Girlfriend’, a slower R&B-tingle tune, which proved that this was one pop baby who could sing. In October 1998, the platinum-selling album ’Honey To The B’ took Billie’s career a step on and silenced the cynics who had said her success was sure to be short lived.

Throughout 1999 she took a step out of the limelight to work on her second album, whilst playing house with Five singer Ritchie Neville. Then in early 2000 Billie made her comeback with the single ’Day & Night’, an up-tempo song that hit the top of the charts.

Accompanying this comeback was a total image overhaul that offered up a far raunchy and overtly sexy individual. However, still in her late teens, the new image created quite a lot of press, and not all of it good, launching the debate as to whether it was suitable for young girls to copy her style.

Billie’s rock’n’roll lifestyle continued at great apace with a stalker, suspected drugs issues and her eventual marriage to, 16 years her senior, Chris Evans. The relationship that followed saw Billie’s demise from the public eye and the couple became more famous for their extreme partying, which as well as costing Chris his job at Virgin, also saw Billie flounder about with seemingly not much to do other than get drunk.

In 2003 she returned to her roots and polished her acting skills in the sunny climes of Los Angeles. On her return to the UK she quickly earned roles in television and film productions, her first being The Canterbury Tales that stunned viewers and changed their perception of her from a young pop princess to that of professional actress.

She later appeared in The Calcium Kid, Spirit Trap, Much Ado About Nothing, The Ruby in the Smoke and Mansfield Park, however it was her character Rose Tyler that awarded her the most acclaim.

In 2004 Billie signed to work on the new series of Doctor Who, as sidekick and companion of the good Doctor. She won Most Popular Actress category 2005 and 2006 for her work on the series, alongside Best Actress at the TV Quick and TV Choice Awards 2006 and Breakthrough Award at the Southbank Show Awards 2006, however on June 15, 2006, it was announced by the BBC that she was to depart in the final episode of the second series.

In October 2004 Billie and Chris began a trial separation that was to end in divorce, however the couple remain close friends, living just two houses away in the desirable Belsize Park area on London.

read more on Chris Evans

October 2007