A lot of things have been written about Abigail Clancy, not all of them complimentary. First, there are the drug-taking rumours that led to her apparent dumping by footballer boyfriend Peter Crouch, then there’s the supposed boob job, the bling WAG lifestyle, the insulting of Victoria Beckham. And on the list goes...
As a result, the model and rising face-off-the-telly uses the words ‘It’s not true’, ‘I never said that’ and, ‘I never said that either’ more frequently than your average celebrity interviewee.
So let’s tackle these allegations, shall we? First, of course, the boyfriend. The famously lanky England and Liverpool ace, who shot in to the big league after an impressive performance (and not just of his robot dance) in last year’s World Cup, was said to have dumped the model after allegations of her taking cocaine. But Abbey claims the pair were loved-up then – and are loved-up now.
‘We always have been. We never broke up. There are a lot of things that aren’t true and if you take notice of them, you’ll go mad, but as long as we know we’re happy, that’s the main thing,’ she says.
She’s quite a smitten kitten. Throughout the day, Peter’s name comes up in conversation about, ooh, a million times, and she’s always on the blower to him.
‘I can’t wait to see him tonight,’ says Abbey, who, when we finish, is jumping on a train from London to Macclesfield, where Peter will pick her up and drive her to his Cheshire pad. ‘We more or less live together,’ says the 21-year-old. ‘Every minute of the day I’m with him. We’re always together.’
Abbey clearly likes a fella with a bit of height, what with Peter being 6ft 7in. But what is the sexiest thing about him? ‘It’s everything, the whole package,’ she coos. ‘We’re both easy-going and don’t take things too seriously. He’s not moody and I’m not moody. We’re always laughing, that’s our secret.’
Abbey, we assume, is a typical WAG, and according to reports, she’s even installed her own St Tropez tanning booth at home.
‘It’s not true,’ she protests. ‘I wish it was. It’d save me going out to get a spray tan every week. I don’t think of myself as a WAG, although obviously I go out with a footballer so I’m labelled one. But it’s the people who read about it who are obsessed with the WAG thing, not the girls who go out with the players. It’s a bit of a joke to us,’ she continues. ‘And I’m not what you’d expect a WAG to be. I’m always getting caught looking like a tramp, wearing Peter’s hoodie. I’m scruffy, I can’t be doing with going out of the front door looking a million dollars every day. I’ve had this jumper on for two days. I came down to London with one outfit. I couldn’t care less if someone says I look like a bag of rags.’
But we find it hard to believe there is nothing WAG-like about her. She must shop a lot, and like a bit of bling, at the very least?
‘I like shopping with my mum on a Saturday in Zara and H&M. I wouldn’t spend #1,000 on a dress, I’d rather go to Topshop and buy a thousand things,’ she says (although she later tells us she spent near enough that amount on a Matthew Williamson dress for her 21st birthday party. Oops). She also confesses to a moment of super-bling.
‘I wore a really big, thick gold chain necklace to Coleen’s birthday party and everyone kept calling me Mr T. I was like, “I don’t know who Mr T is, I’m too young”. I thought it was alright, but no one else seemed to think it was.’
So, she’s bezzies with other WAGs, like Coleen and Alex Curran, we presume.
‘No, erm, well, yes, I know them and I like them, but we’ve got our own friends. I was with Alex at Coleen’s party and we see each other at footballing events, but Peter and I have got our own, separate, mates.’
Abbey did schmooze with Posh, though, leaving Victoria stony-faced during the World Cup after telling her she asked for her autograph at a Spice Girls concert when she was 10-years-old. Or did she?
‘I didn’t say that. I’ve only said “Hi” to her!’ Abbey protests, just as she does when we ask her about the comment she made about wanting to ‘get married, have babies and shop for the rest of her life’.
‘I didn’t say that either! I’ve no idea where it came from. It’s quite annoying when I have to prove to people that these things are not what I’m about.’
Indeed, Abbey has been busy recently doing something that is about as alien to most WAGS as shopping in Aldi. She’s been working, heading for La-La Land to make her second show for Living TV (she came runner-up in Britain’s Next Top Model last year). Abbey was on a mission to crack America as a model, mentored by the forthright – and slightly loony – Janice Dickinson, the original supermodel (according to herself, anyway).
‘It was amazing. She was scary though. Everything she says makes sense – even though it might not be said in the nicest way. I moaned to the crew about it rather than to her face because I was too terrified of her.’
Each week, Janice set Abbey a challenge, from walking down Hollywood Boulevard in a bikini to swimming with sharks. Not a normal requirement of the job, it must be said. ‘It was to prove I can do anything,’ she explains. ‘And it was horrendous. I was 30 metres under water with five 12ft sharks and 100 stingrays. It was vile.’
It wasn’t all bad, though. ‘They’re more encouraging and excited to know who you are in America. Although I’d never done a major catwalk show before and a lot of the girls were reluctant to help me out – so there’s bitchiness everywhere. But generally, people seemed to like me there.’
Indeed, under Janice’s tutorage, Abbey opened a show at LA fashion week and modelling agencies expressed an interest in her. ‘I think I can crack it there. There’s more of a market for me – I’ve got the blonde surfy beach babe Californian girl thing going on.’
Abbey has got killer legs, great boobs (au naturel, of course) and even the odd sexy (very small) curve. She also has a healthy attitude to food, scoffing a whole salmon pizza at lunch. ‘I eat mostly what I want, but I try and go to the gym. When I can get out of bed.’ Good genes then, the lucky beggar. But did she feel the pressure to shrink to the size of a seven-year-old child in Hollywood? ‘I didn’t see anyone who was a size zero, actually. Probably because I was in Dennys all the time eating pancakes.’
But Abbey won’t be heading Stateside for good. Not without her man.
‘I’m too much of a home person to move there. I’d go out for specific jobs but I like to be near friends and family.’
Indeed, she barely coped with three weeks of life in Los Angeles during filming. ‘I really missed Peter. I had a #1,000 phone bill at the end of it. They were long nights being there on my own without him.’
So there we have it. Abigail Clancy. Hasn’t had a boob job, never insulted Victoria Beckham, doesn’t spend her life shopping and is loved-up with Peter. All she needs is a spray tanning booth and life will be complete…
Abbey on style...
HIS: ‘Peter always looks gorgeous. He’s 6ft 7in but he doesn’t struggle to find clothes. Do I get a sore neck looking up at him? No – the fact I’m 5ft 9in is good. He couldn’t go out with someone 5ft, could he? I shop for him a lot but I haven’t had to influence him – he has good style anyway, he’s quite smooth, not flashy or bling. I’m better at picking his clothes than my own.’
HERS: ‘I’ll never be a style icon, I have fashion disasters all the time. I was clearing out some old clothes at my mum’s and Peter was like, “Right, talk me through this outfit”. I had these tie-dyed flared trousers with splashed-paint effect on them in mustard yellow, green, maroon and blue, which I wore with a tight belly top for my 18th birthday. I was going to wear it one night when we went out together, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it…’
Abbey & Janice: Beauty & The Best begins on LIVING TV, 14 May, 9pm