SHE turns 50 tomorrow and, hip, hip, wahey, Denise Van Outen feels sexier than ever.
The star of TV and musicals is also back in the dating game, brimful of fun-loving confidence and ready for fun.
She says: “With age, you don’t worry so much about what people think, you are more assured of who you are and know what you want. I feel the sexiest I’ve ever felt.”
The Essex-born bombshell has been a regular on our TV screens ever since getting her break co-presenting Channel 4’s The Big Breakfast with Johnny Vaughan from 1997 to 2001.
She has since appeared on some of the biggest shows on telly as well as playing Roxy in hit musical Chicago — and falling in and out of love.
Ever a hopeless romantic, she is now single after splitting with Jimmy Barba, 56, last year following an 18- month relationship with the Italian born model and property developer.
She previously dated Jamiroquai singer Jay Kay, from 1998 to 2001, and they were engaged before going separate ways.
Denise married Any Dream Will Do talent show winner Lee Mead in 2009 and has a daughter, Betsy, 14, by him but they separated in 2013 then divorced two years later.
She also dated commodities trader Eddie Boxshall from 2014 to 2022 and appeared with him, loved up, on Channel 4’s Celebrity Gogglebox, only to later dump him after he sent Xrated messages to other women.
But Denise is far from down about entering her sixth decade of life as a single woman.
While dabbling in online dating, she is in no rush to find a man and settle down with him.
Denise, who starred in Chicago in London’s West End and on Broadway in the early Noughties, then again in London in 2018, says: “It feels liberating to be single as a 50-year-old woman, totally liberating.
“I’m allowing myself to just go on dates and enjoy them for what they are. There was a time when I felt I couldn’t really do that.
“I don’t feel pressured to rush into anything. When the time’s right, then I will be ready to meet Mr Right.
“I’ve been single for seven months and am loving it. I never really allowed myself breathing space between relationships to just enjoy the freedom.”
Denise adds: “I’ve always thought that a dating app would never be for me but I joined Raya a few months ago.
“It’s known as the ‘industry dating app’ and is for celebrities and people in the media. I’m on there as myself and it has been fun. I’ve been going on dinner dates lately and met some really lovely guys.
“Some haven’t felt like a romantic connection but I’ve made some friends so I’m enjoying it.
“I’m in a nice situation because I’m not in a hurry to find someone so I don’t feel any pressure — and it’s not as if I’m not looking to start a family, so the man doesn’t feel any pressure either.
“I’m just going to sit back and go with the flow. I’m not going to force anything.
“I feel like I can make the right choices now. This is the new me — single and ready for fun.”
Denise was runner-up on Strictly Come Dancing in 2012, has had stints on the judging panels of talent shows Any Dream Will Do, Born To Shine and Ireland’s Got Talent, and narrates reality show favourite The Only Way Is Essex.
She has also appeared in The Bill and EastEnders, in the BBC’s Murder In Mind crime dramas, ITV sitcom Babes In The Wood, and West End musical Legally Blonde in 2010.
But making music is also a passion.
As well as DJing at her own party nights, Discolicious, Denise has lately been working on new songs. She took over Eighties-themed West London venue Maggie’s Club last week to film a video for a new track, also called Discolicious.
Vamping up her look, she slipped into skin-tight PVC trousers and heels as well as a skimpy corset-style crop-top.
Keen to keep herself in tip-top shape, Denise has a gruelling gym regime and plays regular golf.
She says: “I feel great and am really happy about turning 50.
“With age comes wisdom and I’ve learned a lot about caring for myself better. If I think back to how I was at 40, I can see I make much more effort to look after myself now.
“I have always kept myself fit because you have to be healthy in a career like mine.
“But these days I have better balance and variety. I train in the gym and play sports, like golf. I really look after myself and only drink sporadically. I was a party girl in the Nineties but not too much because I was always working.
“I monitor my drinking and am more moderate now. If I party, I do it more during the day because I like a good night’s sleep.
“The big difference these days is I also look after my mental health.
“I never really did things like this in the past, but as you get older you realise it’s so important to look after your mind as well your body.
“I used to think therapy was a very sort of American thing but have since discovered that quite a lot of people do it — and I think it’s great.”
After some low-key recent birthday celebration in England, Denise plans to jet to Los Angeles this evening to continue Stateside.
Not stopping there, she will then swing by Las Vegas to really ramp up the party in Sin City.
She says: “I used to live in LA so am going out to see all my old friends. “I’m also going to Vegas to see Adele perform. I have known Adele since she was young.
“I feel really fortunate to have reached a place of real happiness at this stage of my life.
“I’ve got amazing friends. I’ve met some incredible people through work and I’ve still got my old school friends.
“I’ve got a really good group of people around me and have a lot of fun.
“Life is all about having the right mix of work, family and friends, so I feel blessed.
“The cherry on the cake will be when I do meet a really good man. It’ll be nice when someone comes and sweeps me off my feet, but we’ll see.
“I’ve learned that you can’t force anything in life and everything’s about timing.
“I know it’s a cliché, but if something is meant to be, then it will happen.”
And when it comes to her career, Denise again has zero plans to slow down any time soon.
As well as shows in Ibiza this summer and dropping her new single next month, she has been working on her first original solo album.
She will also return to the Proud Cabaret club in central London for a sultry burlesque one-night-only show in August.
Oh, and on top of all that, Denise will start planning to fulfil a lifetime ambition to climb to Base Camp on Mount Everest.
Denise says: “I seem to have spent my life spinning plates. Now I have decided to have a year of doing all the things I love.
“Work will always be a top priority because it brings me so much joy and right now I’m back to really loving my career. I’m in a good place because I have so many different things going on.
“Alongside all the work, I am going to fulfil some personal challenges. I won’t be able to complete it in the next year, but I am going to start planning to climb to Base camp on Everest. That has been on my bucket list for ages.
“I love trekking and leaving the commercial world behind to get back to nature — no phone, no glamour, just a rucksack.”
Source: The Sun