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PAT ON THE BLACK
Nobody sees me naked with lights on, says Patsy Kensit, 56, as she admits she hasn’t spoken to Liam Gallagher for 25yrs
Patsy Kensit also explains why her sons aren’t nepo babies
JUST a few weeks ago, Patsy Kensit posted a selfie to Instagram that prompted an unexpected backlash.
Wearing a black bodysuit and tights, she appeared noticeably slimmer than in recent years and, although some of the comments beneath the photo were complimentary, there were also plenty expressing concerns about her health.
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A few accused the actress of having an eating disorder, which left Patsy, 56, reeling.
“I had hoped that all the mudslinging and body shaming had gone away – I thought we were living in a time when people didn’t do that any more, so to be called ‘anorexic’ left me feeling a bit burned,” she says.
“For close to 30 years now, I’ve never been the ‘right’ size. I was too skinny, then I was too fat and nicknamed ‘Fatsy Patsy’.
It became almost like a national sport trying to get me pictured with a cake in my hand and it was soul-destroying.
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“Now, apparently, I’m too skinny again. Whatever I’ve looked like, it’s never been good enough.”
‘I got to the point where I had serious issues with agoraphobia’
Patsy acknowledges that, yes, she has lost some weight, but insists there’s nothing sinister about the way it’s happened.
Most of the pounds, she claims, fell away after giving up salt.
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Power-walking around west London (while listening to Neil Young on her headphones), as well as reducing her alcohol intake have also helped.
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“I mean, I still love a drink. But the next day, I always feel so sluggish and I’m not myself.
“Cutting out salt was really interesting though, because it’s had such a huge effect on my size.
Patsy Kensit looks ageless as she makes EastEnders debut
“I tend to hold a lot of water. I’ve suffered with bloating ever since I hit puberty 100 years ago!
“And without salt, I found the bloating reduced. Such a silly, simple thing, but it’s been miraculous how much it’s changed me.
“So, no salt, moving more, less alcohol, more water. All those boring things!”
Whatever her size, the decades of scrutiny and self-esteem battles mean Patsy remains deeply insecure about her body – there’s a fragility about her as she describes just how entrenched those feelings are and the impact they continue to have.
“It’s affected my mental health to the point where I’ve had serious issues with agoraphobia,” she says.
“I’ve wasted a lot of therapy on body image… It’s not nice to be pulled apart.
“Over the years, I got a real bashing – if someone told me they’d seen a picture of me somewhere, I’d immediately ask them if I looked fat.
“I’ve got areas of my body I don’t like. I’d never lie on a beach unless I was covered head to toe. I just wouldn’t want that exposure.
“I undress in the dark, too. Not even the cat, who is my pride and joy and the one dearest to my heart, has seen me naked with the lights on.”
It’s hard to reconcile this Patsy Kensit with the blonde bombshell who became the poster girl of the late ’80s with her timeless beauty and effortless, enigmatic cool.
For the record, she’s still strikingly beautiful, even if she can’t see it herself.
“Just the other day, I was looking at some pictures from years ago and there was this shot of me from Absolute Beginners and I was dancing.
“I was 16 when I did that movie and I didn’t have any idea what was going to come at me.
“I was so free and so confident. And I thought: ‘Where did that person go?’.”
‘It doesn’t work for either of us to be public about our private life’
Child-star Patsy had already been working for several years by the time Absolute Beginners – the 1986 movie that truly launched her into the public consciousness – came around.
That was followed by a lead role in Lethal Weapon 2 and a brief but iconic foray into pop with the group Eighth Wonder, before she moved into her ’90s rock-chick era as part of the legendary Primrose Hill set.
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But while her work as an actress has taken her to Hollywood and back via Holby City, Emmerdale and, most recently, EastEnders, it is Patsy’s love life that has often dominated the headlines.
Four-times married – to Dan Donovan 1988-1991, Jim Kerr 1992-1996, Liam Gallagher 1997-2000 and Jeremy Healy 2009-2010 – she’s a self-confessed “hopeless romantic”.
But her latest relationship with businessman Patric Cassidy, 59, appeared to be over last July when she captioned an Instagram picture with the word “heartbreak”, just months after accepting his marriage proposal.
A spokesperson confirmed the break-up, but they were photographed together again last November, giving rise to speculation that they’d reunited and that the engagement – and wedding number five – was back on.
“I’m in a relationship,” she confirms today, choosing her words carefully.
“But in both our worlds, it doesn’t really work for either of us to be public about our private life.
“I don’t think it’s good for his business and I don’t think it really helps me in any great way, either.
“But I know I have to take responsibility for the fact that I was vocal on Instagram about private feelings.”
She’s not wearing the reported 12-carat diamond engagement ring today. Is she still engaged?
“I’ve got a lovely piece of jewellery… I know I’m going to get asked and it’s my own fault, because I shouldn’t ever have said anything in the first place, but I have to respect the person I’m in a relationship with.
“I do still believe in love, and seeing my sons in love is wonderful.
“Seeing them with their girlfriends and how they are such gentlemen is something I’m very proud of.
“Both are in committed relationships and they’ve both picked two really amazing women.”
‘I haven’t spoken to the boys’ dads for around 25 years’
Her boys – James, 32, and Lennon, 24 – are Patsy’s sons with Jim Kerr and Liam Gallagher respectively, and they’re clearly the centre of her world.
Lennon calls her during our interview to invite her out for a Mother’s Day lunch (“I’d love that,” she says. “I love you!”), although ask her how the co-parenting has gone over the years and she immediately replies that, well, it hasn’t.
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“I haven’t spoken to either of the boys’ dads for around 25 years. I prefer it that way.
“My sons both have relationships with their dads and, of course, I’ve always supported that. But life’s definitely easier keeping things completely separate.”
The split from Liam was particularly brutal – Patsy has spoken before about how her heart “broke into a million pieces” when he left.
And while he moved on unscathed, she says today that she was abandoned by the in-crowd and the people she thought were her friends.
“I had lots of ‘fancy’ friends in the ‘90s – everyone wanted you to be hanging out with them, but I lost all of them when my relationship ended,” she says.
“I hate ‘phoneyism’ and I was ditched by the whole community overnight – every one of them.
“I don’t hold on to the disappointment, but it was disappointing because I was still very young and I had two children on my own.
“But I feel very lucky to have friends in my life who have always been there since I was 16 – my real friends.
“Women I can tell anything to and know it will never go any further.
“That wasn’t true in the ‘90s.”
‘Lennon and James are chalk and cheese, but they love each other very much’
It’s when talking about her sons that Patsy seems most comfortable.
Just three years ago, she described her struggle with “empty nest syndrome”, so she was delighted when Lennon, a model and musician who’s dating fellow model Izzy Richmond, recently moved back in with her.
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Mother and son even share clothes – she’s wearing one of his jackets today and Lennon might face a challenge getting it back.
“I’ve staked a claim to it!” she laughs. “And he raids my wardrobe, too. Quite a few items have ended up in his room – jackets, scarves, shirts, a whole plethora of things.
“Lennon’s sense of fashion is something he had from a very young age.
“He was doing an interview the other day and he was asked where he got his style from and he said: ‘My mum’, which I was thrilled about!
“He started modelling when he was 15 when [stylist and fashion editor] Katie Grand, who is one of my oldest friends, suggested doing a shoot, then it just really took off.”
Lennon has since modelled in campaigns for Burberry and Saint Laurent and is also in a band, while James is an artistic director who has worked with the Arctic Monkeys.
But Patsy utterly rejects the idea that either is a so-called “nepo baby” and says that both have achieved on their own merit.
“Neither of my boys will accept any help from their dads.
“OK, they might get a foot in the door, but there’s no way they can be working to the level they are without a great work ethic to back it up.
“It’s not like the ‘90s any more – you can’t show up late to a shoot, break for lunch, drink a couple of bottles of champagne and then maybe start shooting!
“With Lennon, that kid was jumping on planes for jobs at 16 on his own.
“I look back now and think I should have gone with him, but he was strong, able and professional enough to manage.
“I’m very protective of both my sons, but James especially is a private person and although he’s very successful, I have to be mindful of that.
“Their lives are very different – they are chalk and cheese, but they love each other very much.”
Besides, she says, it’s hardly a surprise that each of them has chosen a career in creative industry.
There are children from all walks of life and in every profession who have followed in their parents’ footsteps.
“We’re a lot more accepting of the children of actors finding their way into the industry, but I think around rock ’n’ roll, it’s more difficult.
“It’s like they’re not allowed to do it, and people can be quite mean and nasty.
“Really, why the shock? My only advice to both of them has been that people will always appreciate good manners, there’s nothing wrong in asking a question and, finally, just love what you do.
“And they both seem to be doing that. I think they both surprise a lot of people.”
‘EastEnders was something I’d wanted for a long time’
Patsy is still loving what she does, too, and is very much in demand herself.
“After a busy 2023, which saw her land the EastEnders gig, she is preparing for a possible new movie role in the States and is also hopeful of a return to Walford at some point.
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Playing Emma Harding, mother of terminally ill Lola Pearce (Danielle Harold) fulfilled a long-held dream stemming from Patsy’s childhood growing up on a London council estate with a father, nicknamed Jimmy The Dip due to his pickpocket reputation, who had links to the East End criminal underworld and the Krays.
“EastEnders was something I’d wanted for a long time,” she says.
“I’m a super-fan and thought I’d work well in it because of my background. It made sense in so many ways.
“They initially said they wanted me for nine days, then I was asked to come back, which was great.
“The script writing is so good, I loved the character and I was working with Danielle, who was incredible.
“With a programme like EastEnders you really do have to surrender your life to it, but if the call came tomorrow, I’d bite their hand off because I had such an amazing time.”
Patsy might be a gentle soul, but she must be made of tough stuff to have survived more than half a century in the business.
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“It’s 52 years,” she says, to be exact.
“I think I’m mainly tired, to be honest! But I still have the same joy and passion I always did in front of the camera or on stage. I don’t think I’ll ever lose that.”
In the make-up chair with Patsy
What are your skincare heroes?
Skin1004 Madagascar Centella Light Cleansing Oil.
Your best budget buy?
Astral Cream. My mum loved it.
What do you splurge on?
La Mer The Lip Balm.
Any make-up bag essentials?
Caudalie Beauty Elixir Face Mist – it keeps my skin dewy all day.
What’s your best beauty tip?
Always double cleanse.
Who are your beauty icons?
Lauren Hutton and Brigitte Bardot.