Daisy Lowe: I was frivolous - I gave my money out to friends (2025)

Daisy Lowe, 36, is an English fashion model and daughter of singer-songwriter turned designer Pearl Lowe and Gavin Rossdale, lead singer of Bush. Born in Westminster, she was signed as a model at 15 and has shot for Urban Outfitters, Chanel, Burberry, Converse and Louis Vuitton. She was a contestant on Strictly Come Dancing back in 2016. She is due to wed her property developer fiancé Jordan Saul this summer, with whom she has two-year-old daughter, Ivy.

Here she looks back on the moments that changed her perspective on love, family, career and fame.

I was frivolous in my early twenties because I didn’t understand how to take care of my money. I’d always just want to pay for everyone’s meal and everyone’s travel. I was very conscious of the fact that all my friends didn’t earn the money that I was able to, so I wanted to take everyone along for the ride with me. I was still a kid, but when I moved at 18 to New York, I guess I started to feel like a real person in the real world.

I couldn’t leave my house without makeup. If I did, I’d get called names. When I bought my first home in Primrose Hill, the paparazzi would wait outside my house. By the time I did Strictly, there were 10 of them outside my door. It was overwhelming.

When things started coming out in the press about whoever I was dating at the time, it just fed my ego. It either inflated or deflated it, which wasn’t healthy. Now I don’t read anything about myself, unless I’ve done an interview and I want to check that I don’t sound like a total arse.

I wasn’t very well when I was modelling. I kept going into burnout and not really realising. It took me until I was 29, post Strictly, to realise: I’ve burnt myself into the ground. I ended up taking a year off, just to sort myself out.

A huge saviour to my health was that I started exercising. I’d always danced, because dancing was a real release for me. At 22, I started going to the gym. It’s not so easy with Ivy, but I still try and do between 15 and 30 minutes of yoga five times a week, and that seems to keep me very much on the straight and narrow.

Everyone who meets my fiancé tells me how wonderful he is in comparison to all my ex-boyfriends, which is a massive ego boost. My mum always said I’d have to kiss a lot of frogs. It was important to collect all those brilliant stories to look back at when I’m an old lady and can have a giggle at the trouble I used to get myself into. I’d never met anyone like Jordan. I’d set the bar really low, so I’d certainly never dated any like him.

We met walking our dogs on Hampstead Heath. My dog, Monty, ran over to his dog, and we started having a bit of a dog chat. I was with my friend Matilda. He said: “I’m going this way too, if that’s okay.” Matilda said: “Oh goodness, I’ve just forgotten I’m supposed to take my son to the dentist,” grabbed me and said: “I’m leaving. You’ve pulled.”

I wouldn’t recommend having a toddler, working, moving house and planning a wedding all at the same time – but I’m very excited. We’ve been together for five years and getting married this summer. I think we’re stuck together for life. Our little girl, Ivy, is two.

The most exciting part is that we’ll be getting all of our favourite people together, celebrating our love and having a laugh. I think Jordan’s dream would have been to elope, but a dear friend of mine said: “There’s no other time in your life that you are surrounded by all the people that you love in one room. That’s really special.” That really stuck with me. So, that’s the plan.

The secret to a happy relationship is communication and trust. There’s a point where talking about your relationship can get really boring, so it’s important to go and have fun. I think that’s where Jordan and I have gotten to. We’ve done so much serious stuff that we always have to remind ourselves to go and have fun.

My mum treats me more like her mate – she has always been brilliant. She had me when she was 20, so there’s a bigger age gap between me and my youngest brother than between me and my parents. I have a really brilliant relationship with my dad. He’s a wonderful dad to me and my brothers. He’s great with Ivy, so we’re very lucky to be connected.

I was a very precocious child. Age two, I’d be telling my uncle he was changing my nappy wrong.

I can’t believe that I’m still modelling at 36. Thankfully, the industry has shifted. I did my first fashion shoot at 12. I got signed by an agency and started doing catwalk shows at 15. At 17, I was booked for Italian Vogue, which every young model would have dreamed about. I lived on a plane for five years, shooting fashion, lingerie, fragrance and beauty. I never thought I’d model for that long. I really thought by 21, I’d be too old.

I always wanted to be a mum. My mum encouraged me to write a cookbook, which I did and loved. Then I thought: what’s next? I did some acting, then Strictly, but what I always wanted was to be a mum. Having a child then going back to work makes it clear how precious my time with my daughter is. It has to really mean something for me to take on a project that will take away those precious moments where she is learning a new word or new skill.

Campaigning for real women’s bodies has always been important to me. There wasn’t such thing as body positivity back then. I was determined to help change the mould.

I’m not rushing into having more children. I feel like the first one’s knocked me for six. She’s wild, sassy, hilarious and amazing, but takes so much energy.

When you have kids of your own, it gives you more respect for your own parents. You think: “This can actually be really hard.” My mum has been really helpful, by saying: “It’s really important that you continue to be you as well. Hold your identity and your independence, because that will serve you really well in life.”

Daisy Lowe is raising awareness of the UK Government’s Boiler Upgrade Scheme which offers homeowners a £7,500 grant towards a heat pump installation. See gov.uk/heatpumps