She opened up about her eldest daughter Lexi’s fledgling modelling career earlier this month – insisting the 17-year-old will finish her education before following in her showbiz footsteps.
And pals say Amanda Holden, 52 – who is married to record producer, Chris Hughes – has big plans for both Lexi and her youngest daughter, Hollie, 11, as she sets her sights on becoming the British answer to the Kardashians’ ‘momager’ Kris Jenner – who turned her five daughters into global superstars.
Last year, Lexi bagged a modelling deal with Storm – the agency that launched the likes of Cara Delevingne, 29, and Cindy Crawford, 56, to catwalk stardom.
Since then, the teen has been enjoying dipping her toe into the spotlight under her mum’s watchful eye – accompanying her at red-carpet events, including the British Fashion Awards and also appearing more frequently on her Instagram page.
A source says, “Amanda is in awe of the likes of Kris Jenner and Yolanda Hadid [mum to supermodels, Gigi and Bella] who’ve carefully helped to curate their children’s careers in the spotlight and turned them into megastars – and she’d love to be able to do the same for her kids.
“Now her daughters are growing up and starting to show an interest in the modelling world, she’s keen to follow suit and is happy she can use her public profile to help her kids. Hollie is keen to join her sister on the catwalk, and Amanda is secretly hoping that she can emulate the likes of Yolanda by helping create the next supermodel sisters – she truly believes they can take the modelling world by storm.”
However, Amanda is well aware of the potential downsides of a life in the limelight and the source says she has some apprehension for her girls as she’s still haunted by a major scandal during her early days in the public eye.
After launching her career as a TV actress in the late ’90s, Amanda’s career took a nose-dive following her affair with Men Behaving Badly star Neil Morrissey, now 60, which ended her eight-year marriage to comedian Les Dennis, 69.
In 2013, she admitted the scandal had “ruined” her reputation, adding how Simon Cowell, 63, had saved her career when he offered her the judging spot on Britain’s Got Talent in 2006. And while the mum-of-two is excitedly putting the wheels into motion for her daughters’ careers in the spotlight, pals say she’s nervous about history repeating itself.
The source says, “Having experienced the backlash of a public scandal first-hand and knowing how devastating the affect of personal misjudgements can be on your professional life, that’s the one thing that’s holding her back from going full guns blazing with the girls.
“She’s anxious and fearful about the thought of them going through that and wants to protect them from enduring any of that pain and heartache she went through. Plus there is the issue with trolling on social media – something she never had to contend with when she started out in her career – but she knows that, ultimately, there’s only so much control she can have and that’s the downside to being in the spotlight.”
But pals say that’s why she is keen to manage the girls herself as she feels she can better protect them.
The source adds, “Amanda loves what she does, but her ultimate goal would be to take on the role as ‘momager’ and eventually oversee the girls’ careers so she can help them navigate around the pitfalls.
“She’s also keen on the idea of a reality show, which she thinks would be a great way to not only boost her own career, but to also help promote the girls and their family brand. Chris isn’t hugely keen but Amanda is slowly talking him around and has assured him they would have a producer role so they
can maintain control over what’s shown.
“She’s spoken to Simon [Cowell] about it, and he thinks it’s a great idea. She’s hoping that with Chris’ blessing, she can pitch it to ITV execs and get the ball rolling in the not-too-distant future. For now, she just wants the girls to focus on completing their education and then ease themselves into the limelight before fully launching their showbiz careers – and hopefully becoming the next Bella and Gigi!”