‘I’ll never resort to surgery’

Just 10 weeks after giving birth to her second daughter, Amber, Tess Daly was splashed all over the papers in a skimpy bikini. Her body looked toned, there was no sign of a jelly belly - or a saggy anything.

In fact, she looked amazing. But the mere mention of that photo leaves 38-year-old Tess visibly flustered. She hadn't been papped - her husband, Radio 1 DJ Vernon Kay, 35, took the family snap and posted it on social networking site Twitter. The next day it was all over the national press, leaving Tess less than happy with Vernon.

"That was a little bit too much information to share with everybody else," she says.

The couple have since made up, but it seems Tess hasn't completely forgiven Vernon his indiscretion. "Of course I was cross. Vernon said that he thought I looked great, but I felt vulnerable. I thought that was a private family shot," she says.

Most new mums would be delighted to be able to get into their bikini, let alone make other women green with envy at how great they looked. But not Tess.

Tess in that photo

"I'm not trying to be the poster girl for losing baby weight quickly. I don't want to put anyone under undue pressure. New mums are under enough pressure as it is," Tess says forcefully.

She insists she hasn't dieted either, and there's something about Tess that makes us believe her.

The former model explains she has seen first-hand what extreme dieting can do. As a result, she hasn't stepped on a set of scales for years.

"Starving yourself slim is wrong. When I was modelling I became friends with girls who really did starve themselves.

"A couple of them ended up anorexic and in hospital - it's a tragedy to see a young girl put herself through that hardship. And why? Because someone else's perception had taken away her self-esteem."

Although successful, Tess quit modelling when she got a break on TV as a guest presenter on Channel 4's The Big Breakfast in 1999. Soon afterwards, she met Vernon when they worked together on a show for the BBC. And they seem to be unique in the world of showbiz couples - glam and grounded.

Both from the North - she's from Stockport, he's from Bolton - and both former fashion models, their relationship seems close and comforting but, like most couples, not without the odd argument.

"When I met Vernon I thought: 'Here is the man I could have children with.' I'd never thought about that until then. We had a lot of common ground. He felt like home," she says.

Hubby Vernon loved Tess' pregnancy curves

Then her face splits into a wide smile and she laughs. "Of course he upsets me on a regular basis! I'm always talking to the back of his head and he never turns the dishwasher on, but they're just silly things."

The couple married in September 2003 and had their first daughter Phoebe, now four, the following October. Their second, Amber, was born this May.

Tess says her second pregnancy was different to her first. "This time I craved comfort food - lots of doughnuts. I wanted custard and Arctic roll - and salad cream on everything!" she laughs.

And Vernon has made it quite clear to anyone who'll listen that he fancies the pants off his missus when she's pregnant.

"He appreciated my curves, and I wasn't in a major hurry to lose them. I enjoyed feeling womanly, voluptuous," Tess says.

"Well, that was before the stage when I couldn't touch my toes or shave my legs!

I liked having full breasts and a bottom. You've got the curvaceousness and the hormone cocktail. You ooze femininity and womanhood."

Did she crave lot of sex, then? Her face flushes, despite the gold paint.

"Erm. I felt quite sexy. I don't know if I craved sex more than doughnuts! I sent Vernon on a lot of doughnut runs - I think he got more doughnuts than sex!" she giggles.

On holiday with daughter Phoebe

"I'll blush if I go into that kind of thing. He'll be so embarrassed."

Talk turns to her two girls again, and Tess' face softens. She wants them to have as happy a childhood as she did.

Tess' mum has just retired, but both her parents worked in factories. Her father died six years ago.

"I wish he could have seen his grandchildren," she says tearfully.

"I'm grateful that he met Vernon and got to walk me down the aisle. He was determined to do that, even though he was really ill with emphysema. I dream about him all the time... that makes me want to cry."

Tess goes very quiet, so we switch the conversation to something brighter - Strictly Come Dancing, which she's presented for the last five years with Bruce Forsyth.

Of course she's excited about the new series, but this time it will be without Arlene Phillips, 66, who's been controversially replaced by singer Alesha Dixon - 36 years her junior. Tess looks serious as we speak about what happened.

"I love Arlene to bits and she'll be missed, but she's a strong, driven and incredibly talented woman, she'll be OK," she says.

"I think Alesha isn't afraid to have opinions and it will be interesting to see what she brings to the show. I'm looking forward to working with her."

Hitting the dance floor with Brucie on Strictly

I tell her that although I think Alesha is great, I'm not sure that viewers wanted Arlene replaced. Tess looks a little tortured - after all, she and Arlene were friends.

"The public have been very upset. It's hard for me to explain it because it wasn't my decision," she says.

Does the replacement of Arlene and accusations of ageism within the BBC make Tess worry that, at 38, maybe she has a fast-approaching sell-by date?

"I don't think about it," she says. "There's nothing I can change about my age. I never take anything for granted, but there's no point in beating myself up about what could be."

She seems happy in her skin, but then looking like that, who wouldn't be? And she shakes her head vehemently at the suggestion of having surgery in the future to stave off wrinkles.

"I'm against all that. I broke my nose when I was 15 playing netball. I don't like it, but I won't change it," she says.

"I'd love to have stronger stomach muscles but I'd never have liposuction. It's not natural. Have one less bread roll instead."

One of the reasons she says she's dropped her baby weight is that she's always on the go. And one of her future projects is to write a book on motherhood.

"With Phoebe I had a C-section for medical reasons to do with my cervix. I was out of action - I spent five days strapped to a hospital bed. I couldn't even pick her up," she says. "You want to do cartwheels of joy, but you can't even walk to the loo. The recovery period was more painful than the birth.

"This time I had a natural birth. The next day I was back home, which is preferable to being confined to a hospital bed."

Despite being more prepared second time around, Tess experienced major baby blues.

"Three days after giving birth I felt as if I was in hell. I didn't feel like myself, I wasn't on top of things," she explains.

"I left hospital early, even though they said my blood pressure was low. But by day three I felt so low, physically and mentally, I felt I couldn't be there for my baby or myself. It was a complete meltdown."

How did she survive it? She glows, and not just because she's covered in golden make-up.

"You just have to put your baby in your arms - and, of course, Vernon was really supportive," she explains.

Today she's left Vernon at their Buckinghamshire home with the kids. This is the longest she's been away from Amber. "I really miss her, if I speak about her, I'm sure I'll start lactating!" she laughs.

Looking at her, she seems in great shape. "I don't weigh myself but I've still got a little bit to lose because I've got a muffin top," she shrugs.

But there really is barely a spare centimetre of wobble. When I say people have said she must have had some work done, she looks horrified.

"I absolutely haven't. I've had moments of sheer panic that I'm never going to get my pre-pregnancy body back, but my children are my priority," she says.

"The most I've done for myself is have a spray tan, which is my idea of a treat. I haven't been near a gym. I'm hoping if I need to slim, some control pants will work!"

But she does admit she's been using a body toner - something she's created for her new Daly Body range.

"It feels tingly and tightening, like it's working," she says. Maybe it is, but I had to prise this out of her, whereas anyone else would have been desperate to plug their products.

You can't help but love that about her.

Once our shoot is finished, Tess is heading back home to her family - but will the brood be getting bigger, we wonder?

"Vernon would probably argue that he'd like a boy," she says. "But three children... if it happened I'd be over the moon. Either way, I'm grateful I've got two girls."

Changing nappies is a far cry from Vernon's days as a model, then T4 presenter. But he still enjoys partying. Only recently he left her at home to work in Ibiza. Did she mind?

Tess laughs. "He got a pass out," she says. "In his defence, he was working for Radio 1. He came straight back, though. He even tried to get an earlier flight."

Does she trust him? "I do, because if I didn't what's the point? Vernon's got a family he loves and values. I don't think he'd do anything to put that in jeopardy.

"My mum and dad were together forever and Vernon's mum and dad are still together after 40 years. In my heart of hearts, I believe we can go the distance."

PHOTOGRAPHY: XPOSURE, PLANET PHOTOS, EXPRESS PICTURES, TWITTER/VERNON KAY HAIR: DANIEL DYER AT TERRIE TANAKA MAKE-UP: AIMEE ADAMS AT SOHO MANAGEMENT

Strictly Come Dancing is on Fridays and Saturdays on BBC1. The Daly Body collection is available at Marks & Spencer from October.

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