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Truth behind Keeley Hazell's 'tragic' exit from Page 3 modelling and huge career shift

Former Page 3 star Keeley Hazell found fame posing topless in newspapers and magazines in the early 00s. However, her modelling career would eventually become a source of shame

[Keeley]

Keeley Hazell started as a Page 3 model as a teen - she's gone on to have a very varied career(Image: Instagram/keeleyhazell)

Keeley Hazell was one of the biggest names to come out of the golden era of glamour modelling in the late 90s and early 00s. After winning a competition to pose on Page 3, the beauty - and her bosom - long became part of many paper-reading Brits' mornings.

After winning the Daily Star's 'Search for a Beach Babe', Keeley would go on to be plastered on the cover of some of the most well-known adult magazines - including Loaded, Nuts, Zoo, Maxim and FHM.

However, Keeley's name isn't one of just nostalgia or one that was pinned to the bedrooms of the average teenage lad back in the noughties.

She's gone on to have quite the career for herself away from posing topless for magazines. In light of her recent book 'Everyone's Seen My T**s: Stories and Reflections from an Unlikely Feminist', we take a look back on the 'truth' behind Keeley's life and career - including the 'tragic' reason why she quit modelling.

[Keeley]

Keeley Hazell released her tell-all book earlier this year - let's take a look(Image: AFP via Getty Images)

'Hated the attention'

Keeley got into glamour modelling when she was just a teen. After briefly working as a hairdresser, her friends encouraged her to enter the Daily Star's 'Search for a Beach Babe' at the age of 17, which she won.

She would later also enter The Sun's 'Page 3 Idol contest' when she reached 18.

[Keeley]

The model started her posing career young and would later grow to 'hate' the attention (Image: Getty Images)

Keeley managed to win again, and appeared in the newspaper. She bagged a one-year exclusive glamour modelling contract, 10,000 worth of 'sexy clothes' and a one-year membership for Rex cinema and bar.

This marked the beginning of Keeley's success, where she went on to regularly star in some of the biggest adult magazines - including Loaded, Nuts, Zoo, Maxim and FHM.

Reminiscing on the highs of her saucy job, Keeley said: "I was travelling all the time, and financially my situation changed a lot. I was earning a lot of money.

"At the time you don't realise and I look back and think 'that was crazy.'

[Keeley]

She was incredibly successful in the heyday of Page 3 and lads' mags(Image: Getty Images)

In the peak of her modelling career, Keeley could pull in 30,000-a-shoot. However, with dwindling magazine sales and cultural attitudes towards Page 3 changing, the model later earned as little as 250 for a day in front of the camera.

While Keeley was reaping the benefits of being a glamour model in the heyday of Page 3, she's got a very different outlook now at the age of 39.

Looking back, she feels she personally was "too young" to pursue a career in modelling. Speaking to The Times, she said: Every time I posed topless, I felt so deeply embarrassed. I was filled with shame. I was too young and self-conscious.

"I hated how I looked. I hated the attention."

'Hit rock bottom'

Keeley decided to call a day on her modelling career in 2009. While many assumed that Keeley wanted to pursue other career avenues due to adult mags becoming less popular and that she wanted to mix things up, the truth behind her reasoning was far more tragic.

The model stopped appearing topless and made her final appearance in The Sun in 2009 after Keeley increasingly became "ashamed" and "embarrassed" of her job.

She revealed: "I just felt: I dont want to be seen in this light. I dont want to do this."

[Keeley]

She would eventually feel "ashamed" of her work as a topless model and "hit rock bottom" when a sex tape was leaked(Image: Sutton Images)

She also found modelling difficult to continue with after a sex tape of involving her leaked back in 2007. Keeley delved into how the scandal impacted her life and her self-worth in the new book, where she candidly admitted: "It just humiliating - it was devastating.

"I couldnt stop it. The video spread online like a highly contagious disease. The pain and public humiliation were insurmountable.

"The world assumed I wanted it. The world thought Id released it."

Keeley recalled seeing the story printed in newspapers at the time and felt like she had been "shot repeatedly" after seeing herself on the front cover.

She added: "Suddenly, in a matter of moments, my life is flipped upside down. Im on the cover. I cant breathe. My lungs are tight. My hands are shaking. I feel like Ive been shot repeatedly just bang. Bang. Bang. Bang"

Keeley felt at this moment she had hit "rock bottom."

'Reinvention'

[Keeley]

Keeley went on to pave a successful career in acting(Image: keeleyhazell/Instagram)

Despite feeling like her life had been "flipped upside down", Keeley used this pain and channelled it into starting a career in acting. The model used the money she had made from the years as a Page 3 girl and lads' mag regular to invest in acting lessons across the pond.

And it certainly paid off.

Keeley would eventually land some small appearances in a string of roles in films such as 'Like Crazy', British gangster flick 'St George's Day' and featured in Hollywood hit Horrible Bosses 2 alongside Jennifer Anniston.

While these weren't huge roles, they helped Keeley dip her toe into the acting world, and they gave her a number of credits in established movies.

Keeley would eventually go on to star in the sport comedy-drama Ted Lasso where she would play character Bex in seven episodes between 2020 and 2023.

[Keeley ]

Keeley featured in hit show Ted Lasso(Image: Instagram)

She even ended up co-writing an episode of the hit series. She managed to land the role thanks to her time on set for Horrible Bosses 2, where she met co-star Jason Sudeikis, who ended up being the titular character in Ted Lasso years later.

In her book, Keeley recalled how she initially bonded with Jason, whom she called "talented." She wrote: "We discussed the many challenges women face. We spoke about pretty privilege and how Id benefited from it.

"We spoke about the pitfalls of it.

"Somehow, five hours passed, and when the director yelled cut for the last time, we were still talking - this time about the script Id written. It was about a British girl who moves to Los Angeles after a very public scandal and tries to reinvent herself."

Keeley eventually had a brief relationship with Jason, although their romance fizzled out in 2022.

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