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05-09-2002, 12:58 PM
just thought u might be interested
--------Helen: `Love beats fame' Jan 13 2002
WELSH Big Brother star Helen Adams says being famous is one big drag - but her love for Paul Clarke keeps her going.
The bubbly 23-year-old hairdresser, from Cwmbran, said: "There aren't many upsides to fame.
"I haven't enjoyed any of it - apart from going to `An Audience with Kylie'. The downside is everyone thinking they know you, which they don't. But if it wasn't for Big Brother, I wouldn't have met Paul."
The couple - who thrilled the nation with their on-screen wooing - have just bought a flat together in North London.
"We lived together for 10 weeks in the Big Brother house and we were fine then, so I think we'll be OK," said Helen. "As for getting married and having kids, we'll just take each day as it comes."
Helen also spoke of ex-boyfriend Gavin `Big G' Cox, who dumped her after watching her flirting with Paul on TV.
"I never meant to break Gavin's heart - I just fell in love with Paul," said Helen.
"But I wouldn't have slept with Paul in the Big Brother house even if we could have hidden from the cameras, because he is a gentleman and I'm not a tart."
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Adams bites back! Jan 20 2002
Those who associate Helen with all thinks pink, glittery and giggly would be surprised to see her when she arrives for her 'make-under'.
Quieter and wearing top-to-toe black and dark denim, she's sharp, sorted and unimpressed with her new-found celebrity status.
We had a good natter about what life involves for a normal girl, thrust under the spotlight. Plastic surgery for one thing...
QWhat's all this about plastic surgery? You're not going to do a Jordan are you?
AOh. My. God. No. It's just that when I was really little, I had a mole on top of my head and I got it taken off, so I had to have plastic surgery, my mum says. When we were in the Big Brother house we had to tell everyone our deepest, darkest secrets and I told that story. Paul Clarke was like: "Oh my god, if that's the worst thing that's happened to you, you're pretty lucky."
QDo you have any more deep, dark secrets to share?
AI once said something I really regretted to a customer in the salon I worked in. This lady came in and she was hobbling and I was just messing around and said: "Ooh, got a bad leg have you?" She was like: "Actually, no. As it happens, I don't have a leg." I just wanted to die, I felt so awful.
QDo you miss working in a salon?
AThere are definitely some things I miss about it. I miss the fact that you can cheer someone up just by changing their hair. And people tell you everything when you're a hairdresser. They sit in the chair and tell you they're having an affair with so-and-so. I once had a lady who came in and told me her husband was having an affair. I cut his hair too - and it turned out I also cut his mistress's so I was hearing all these different sides of the story!
I did my friend's hair at the weekend though and I can't believe how excited I was. So I might go back to it. We'll just have to see what happens.
QWould you go and work in your old salon again then?
No way! I'd never ever work there again. The lady who runs it sold stories about me while I was in the Big Brother house.
QThat must have made you fed up...
AIt did. I think she's a cow for selling the stories. She's horrible. She even made me cry before I went into the house because she said to me: "I don't think there's going to be a job for you when you get back. So I told her I'd go and find another job somewhere else, because I didn't think all this was going to happen.
QDidn't you think Big Brother would be a success?
AWell, I watched it the first year, but I honestly didn't think it was going to be that big this time. When we went for interviews they told us the second series wasn't going to be as successful. They didn't want another Mel, Craig and all that. I just went on because there were no Welsh people on it and you need Welsh people represented. I thought it would be a laugh that's all.
QYou must have known millions of people would watch it.
No, we really didn't. On Friday nights we had all this music played in the house so we couldn't hear the crowd. We didn't know anything.
QSo why didn't you and Paul do the biz then?
AOh we couldn't! We had to resist.
Mind you, it really wasn't hard because we both talked about it and said: "Imagine if our parents are watching." That would have been awful. Or your nan! I think Paul had too much respect and I'm not that kind of girl anyway.
QDo you think Big Brother had turned you into a celebrity?
ANo, not at all. I haven't changed - and I haven't started hanging around with anyone different. I don't really go to celebrity parties. You have to be careful with that because you're not a true celeb.
If it's a choice between going to a celebrity party and staying in with Paul playing Snakes & Ladders, I'll stay in every time. Mind you, I just couldn't resist An Audience with Kylie Minogue!
QAre you a Kylie fan then?
AYes. I've got her music on my new fitness vid.
QAh yes, Dance Workout With Helen, tell us about it...
AI just did it because I like dancing, it's just about having a laugh and bopping to Kylie Minogue. Nothing too difficult. I used to teach dance four times a week back in Wales and I miss it a lot. I try and go back and do a few private lessons and classes when I can. It used to keep me fit as well and now I'm doing nothing!
QWhat? Not even, er, stuff?
AWell, I have just been on holiday with Mr Clarke. We just lay around, drank a lot of pina coladas and sunbathed a lot. Oh, and we did go on a jet ski. Nothing too strenuous though!
QDo you and Paul ever get followed by autograph hunters?
AOh, yes. At the weekend we were in Newport. I was having my hair cut and he wanted a new phone, and there was a crowd of 40 kids following us, all wanting autographs. I don't feel famous, but everyone I meet knows things about me. I never have to introduce myself to anyone anymore. They all know who I am already. I hate that, not having to say my name anymore.
QDo you have to dress up more now everyone's looking at you?
AI do have to pay attention to what I wear, but I don't go in for all that stylist stuff. I've got a designer friend called Paul (no, not THAT Paul, another one). I'll phone him up and say: "Oh, what shall I wear?" And he'll say: "Right, what haven't you worn for a while?" and he'll find me something.
QSo have you splashed out on lots of designer gear now?
AI just bought a lovely, cosy jumper from Monsoon. I like the normal places like Gap and Zara and, well, I do like Gucci, but I've got a black Gucci handbag and a pair of black Gucci shoes that Paul (yes, Clarke this time) gave me. They go with everything so that's more than enough for me.
QAnd Gucci don't really go in for pink, glittery stuff do they?
ATrue, but I do like my black too. It's nice and slimming. It's good when you're having a fat day and you want to look a bit thinner.
QDo you get fat days too?
AOh God yeah. You know when you have those times you just eat and eat and eat, like at the weekend. This weekend I just ate and ate and ate. Lovely!
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Big Brother's Helen prepares to have a good hair day Nov 21 2001
Manjiri Kulkarni
BIG BROTHER survivor Helen Adams went back to her roots yesterday, helping stylists prepare for the British Hairdresser of the Year awards ceremony.
The former hair stylist from Cwm-bran, South Wales, has continued to bask in the limelight since her eviction from the eavesdropping house in July.
She received 2,680,463 votes to come second behind Big Brother winner Brian, who won 4,231,660 votes from more than seven million people who voted on the programme.
Miss Adams, who previously worked at Classy Cutz salon in Cwm-bran did not return to work after she shot to fame in the reality TV show.
But she will be at the awards ceremony, to be held at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London on Monday.
Two nominees, Beverley Cobella and Mark Hill, helped her decide at an exclusive preview party how to wear her blonde hair for the ceremony, after Miss Adams popularised her "Helen up-do" following the success of the programme.
Instead of returning to work, she chose to capitalise on the interest generated by the programme, first by selling her story to a tabloid newspaper.
She has spent recent months following in the footsteps of Jane Fonda, Cindy Crawford and Geri Halliwell by putting together a keep-fit video The Helen Way, to be released on Boxing Day, that shows Helen, a former dancer, demonstrating disco exercise moves.
Earlier this month Miss Adams, along with Survivor winner Charlotte Hobrough, was given a special Contribution to Welsh Life award by Cardiff radio station Red Dragon.
Miss Adams's romance with fellow Big Brother contestant Paul Clarke has attracted continuing media speculation, but the pair have appeared together less and less in recent weeks.
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Big Brother star adds her bubbly voice to support for a new children's hospital Nov 24 2001
Felicity Waters Health Reporter
BIG BROTHER celebrity Helen Adams has offered her full support for the campaign to build a Children's Hospital for Wales.
Helen, from Cwmbran, who made her name earlier this year in Channel 4's Big Brother household, joined children from the Music Wales Lion King production yesterday to launch the second stage of the Noah's Ark pin badge promotion.
The appeal aims to sell a total of 100,000 badges, which picture the animals of the campaign logo.
"The lions have gone, now it's the turn of the hippo.
"The tiger and giraffe are next," said project co-ordinator Ruth Verrier Jones.
Hairdresser Helen, who is continuing to enjoy her new-found fame following an on-screen romance with Big Brother housemate Paul Clarke, said, "It's great that Wales is now going to have a Children's Hospital and really good fun to help in this way," she said.
If you wish to buy a badge at £1 each or make a donation to the Noah's Ark Appeal please call (029) 2033 5017.
The campaign to build a Children's Hospital was launched in May 2000 and is now well over half way to reaching its first phase target of £5m.
Wales is currently the only country in Europe not to have its own dedicated facility for sick children.
The hospital which is to be built on the campus of the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff will provide specialist medical facilities for children, child-friendly wards as well as much-needed family accommodation.
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Paul: I'm still with Helen Nov 11 2001
B I G Brother Romeo, Paul Clarke has quashed rumours of a split between him and our media-darling Helen Adams.
Visiting Wales this week with Big Brother's Bubble for the opening of Swansea's new HMV store, he said: "It's all great. We're having a great time. We're really into each other.
"I'm just down for the night this time, but am obviously back and forth to Wales all the time to see Helen and her lot."
Speculation arose about the Big Brother-born relationship after Paul failed to show up with Helen at last week's Red Dragon Welsh Awards in Cardiff.
The bubbly Cwmbran blonde remained radiant in a Paul Waite dress, turned up with her glam mam Liz instead.
Two different reasons were given for Paul's conspicuous absence. Helen said that his car had broken down and that he had work commitments in London.
Paul explained: "I really, really wanted to be there. Really I did, to support Helen more than anything else, but I had to stay on in London for work."
Mad-hatter Bubble was the only one posing with Paul at HMV's photo-shoot. He formed the other half to Paul's dynamic duo, thrilling fans with their blokey humour and constant banter.
Bubble revealed he'd made a sneaky visit to Wales last month for Billy Connolly's sell-out stint.
"Billy Connolly is God, isn't he? He rocks. Wales is very cool, but I'm just staying for the night, then I have to get back to work."
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There's no rift between us... Nov 4 2001
Richard Evans Reports From The Welsh Awards
WELSH reality TV queens Helen Adams and Charlotte Hobrough put paid to rumours of a rift between them as they clung together like bosom buddies at a Welsh awards night in the capital.
Hairdresser Helen from Big Brother and Survivor winner Charlotte were at Cardiff City Hall on Friday night for the prestigious Red Dragon Welsh Awards.
And despite claims the pair can't stand each other, they stuck together in their glam dresses all night, chatting and laughing.
Charlotte, the former WPC from Barry who won a million on ITV's desert island game show, said: "Whenever I meet up with Helen - usually at an event like this - we always have a great laugh.
The girls' chummy behaviour trashes reports that Charlotte thinks Cwmbran girl Helen is "a disgrace to Wales."
Charlotte was quoted as saying "Helen makes us all look stupid" - but furiously denied ever saying it.
On Friday night, Charlotte told Wales on Sunday: "I think if you're going to go on a reality TV show, you have to be quite a strong character, with a good sense of who you are - that's why Helen did so well.
"She's very together and knows who she is."
And Helen - who along with Charlotte won the Contribution to Welsh Life Award - was just as keen to compliment Charlotte.
"We bump into each other now and again, and Charlotte's always really nice," said Helen, who turned up to the awards with mother Liz but without Big Brother boyfriend Paul Clark, who was expected to be there.
"Helen's a really bubbly, fun girl. "We're having a great old time tonight." REALITY LIKES: Charlotte and Helen together
"We've both been through a similar experience so we've got that in common, and most of the time we just laugh, because everything's been so mad for both of us."
When asked where Paul was, Helen was evasive and two different stories emerged - that he had to work late and that his car had broken down on the way.
As well as winning, with Charlotte, the Contribution to Welsh Life award, Helen also won the Help a South Wales Child Award 2001 for her charity work.
"Just remember - we're doing this for the kids," Helen told the audience as she received her award.
As one of the higher visibility Big Brother 2 stars, Helen will soon branch out even further with her own fitness video.
Following in the footsteps of Geri Halliwell, Elle Macpherson, Cindy Crawford and Cher, the former dance teacher has gone back to her roots to show how to keep fit the Helen way - with some disco moves.
"It's nothing too hectic or diffi -cult, just me mucking around and trying not to mess up any of the moves," said Helen.
Dressed in baggy trousers and a vest top, with huge sparkly letters spelling out her name, Helen and two pals lead viewers through the disco work-out.
"It's great fun," Helen insisted. But Helen wouldn't show off any of the fitness moves when the awards host Jason Harrold asked her for a demonstration.
"You'll have to wait for Boxing Day when it's released," she said.
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My Fame Hell Oct 28 2001
By Jennie Bibbings
THE mother of Big Brother's Helen Adams has revealed she's been "through hell" since her daughter's meteoric rise to fame.
Mam Liz, from Cwmbran, says the stress of defending her bubbly blonde daughter against the onslaughts in the media has made her ill.
And she says she and Helen never realised how difficult the pressures of fame would be.
"All the horrible things that got said while she was in there - we've had quite a few hard lessons since the Big Brother experience," says nursery nurse Liz, 45. "As a mother I found it all very, very hard to cope with.
"I'm quite upset about a few things that have been said. Like staff at Classy Cutz saying I was poisonous - you try to cope with that.
"These people who say these things upset me greatly. All the nonsense that appears in the papers has made me quite ill. I've been through hell.
"Helen's just a normal girl who went into the Big Brother house. She can't help what's happened since. Why people have to be so back-stabbing I don't know. Is it jealousy?
"As a mother it's quite soul-destroying." Since ex-crimper Helen made headlines in Big Brother 2 when she snogged housemate Paul Clarke and dumped boyfriend Gavin Cox on live TV, Liz has been by her side throughout.
She's often present when Helen makes public appearances. There was mayhem in a
Cardiff bookshop when Helen turned up for a book-signing with Liz standing in the middle of the crowd sporting a `Big Brother Mother' T-shirt.
But being the mam of a new celeb has its downfalls - their house has been plagued with obscene phone calls, text messages and poison pen letters, and the car she shared with Helen was vandalised.
Liz says she was "deeply hurt" when she was branded "bossy and domineering" by Helen's ex-colleagues at Newport beauty salon Classy Cutz.
"Helen and I are very close as a mother and daughter," she said at the time. "We talk every day on the phone.
"I have had to stand up for Helen in work, when I've felt she was being taken advantage of. Not having lunch breaks and problems when she needed to leave on time to get to her other job as a dance teacher were regular occurrences.
"I remember when, on the night before Helen went into the Big Brother house, her manager Sharon Richards warned her she might not have a job to go back to. Helen was distraught and contemplated not going into the house for fear of losing the job she loved.
"I know for a fact that Classy Cutz has done very well out of Helen's success. The salon has received massive free publicity thanks to Helen. I'm aware it has been inundated with calls from fans wanting Helen cuts."
She says she felt dismayed earlier this week when she read a report that the Mirror editor Piers Morgan had branded her daughter a "halfwit".
The article, which upset Liz, reported Mr Morgan as having told the Society of Editors he was glad his career no longer hinged on chequebook deals with Big Brother contestants.
He recalled watching `this garbage' and wondering `Is my journalistic career going to depend on whether I can persuade some halfwit in Wales to take my company's £250,000 and reveal, in a siz -zlingly tedious four-part series, she's even more stupid than we first feared?'
Liz said his comments were a "nasty put-down".
"I just think what an ignorant man. Helen is dyslexic. Does he not realise that dyslexic people aren't stupid? Dyslexic people are not half-witted. You'd think the editor of a newspaper would have more brains to realise that."
Since her fame, Helen has taken an even greater interest in dyslexia and in helping charities that focus on the problem, according to Liz.
"Dyslexic people can do practical things - Helen can do makeup and she can do hair. She did hair and beauty at college. And she can teach dancing. Dyslexic people do practical things very well.
"There are a lot of them in this world that work extremely hard to get where they are - I don't mean in terms of publicity, but I mean as a hair-dresser and as a dance teacher.
"Helen has done a lot of fundraising for people with dyslexia. She donated a picture to a teacher who used to teach her privately at home because she needed to raise money for her school which teaches children with special needs.
"She's donated quite a lot of money to dyslexic charities.
"People around here stop me in the street and say what a wonderful example Helen is to people, and how hard she always worked at school."
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--------Helen: `Love beats fame' Jan 13 2002
WELSH Big Brother star Helen Adams says being famous is one big drag - but her love for Paul Clarke keeps her going.
The bubbly 23-year-old hairdresser, from Cwmbran, said: "There aren't many upsides to fame.
"I haven't enjoyed any of it - apart from going to `An Audience with Kylie'. The downside is everyone thinking they know you, which they don't. But if it wasn't for Big Brother, I wouldn't have met Paul."
The couple - who thrilled the nation with their on-screen wooing - have just bought a flat together in North London.
"We lived together for 10 weeks in the Big Brother house and we were fine then, so I think we'll be OK," said Helen. "As for getting married and having kids, we'll just take each day as it comes."
Helen also spoke of ex-boyfriend Gavin `Big G' Cox, who dumped her after watching her flirting with Paul on TV.
"I never meant to break Gavin's heart - I just fell in love with Paul," said Helen.
"But I wouldn't have slept with Paul in the Big Brother house even if we could have hidden from the cameras, because he is a gentleman and I'm not a tart."
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Adams bites back! Jan 20 2002
Those who associate Helen with all thinks pink, glittery and giggly would be surprised to see her when she arrives for her 'make-under'.
Quieter and wearing top-to-toe black and dark denim, she's sharp, sorted and unimpressed with her new-found celebrity status.
We had a good natter about what life involves for a normal girl, thrust under the spotlight. Plastic surgery for one thing...
QWhat's all this about plastic surgery? You're not going to do a Jordan are you?
AOh. My. God. No. It's just that when I was really little, I had a mole on top of my head and I got it taken off, so I had to have plastic surgery, my mum says. When we were in the Big Brother house we had to tell everyone our deepest, darkest secrets and I told that story. Paul Clarke was like: "Oh my god, if that's the worst thing that's happened to you, you're pretty lucky."
QDo you have any more deep, dark secrets to share?
AI once said something I really regretted to a customer in the salon I worked in. This lady came in and she was hobbling and I was just messing around and said: "Ooh, got a bad leg have you?" She was like: "Actually, no. As it happens, I don't have a leg." I just wanted to die, I felt so awful.
QDo you miss working in a salon?
AThere are definitely some things I miss about it. I miss the fact that you can cheer someone up just by changing their hair. And people tell you everything when you're a hairdresser. They sit in the chair and tell you they're having an affair with so-and-so. I once had a lady who came in and told me her husband was having an affair. I cut his hair too - and it turned out I also cut his mistress's so I was hearing all these different sides of the story!
I did my friend's hair at the weekend though and I can't believe how excited I was. So I might go back to it. We'll just have to see what happens.
QWould you go and work in your old salon again then?
No way! I'd never ever work there again. The lady who runs it sold stories about me while I was in the Big Brother house.
QThat must have made you fed up...
AIt did. I think she's a cow for selling the stories. She's horrible. She even made me cry before I went into the house because she said to me: "I don't think there's going to be a job for you when you get back. So I told her I'd go and find another job somewhere else, because I didn't think all this was going to happen.
QDidn't you think Big Brother would be a success?
AWell, I watched it the first year, but I honestly didn't think it was going to be that big this time. When we went for interviews they told us the second series wasn't going to be as successful. They didn't want another Mel, Craig and all that. I just went on because there were no Welsh people on it and you need Welsh people represented. I thought it would be a laugh that's all.
QYou must have known millions of people would watch it.
No, we really didn't. On Friday nights we had all this music played in the house so we couldn't hear the crowd. We didn't know anything.
QSo why didn't you and Paul do the biz then?
AOh we couldn't! We had to resist.
Mind you, it really wasn't hard because we both talked about it and said: "Imagine if our parents are watching." That would have been awful. Or your nan! I think Paul had too much respect and I'm not that kind of girl anyway.
QDo you think Big Brother had turned you into a celebrity?
ANo, not at all. I haven't changed - and I haven't started hanging around with anyone different. I don't really go to celebrity parties. You have to be careful with that because you're not a true celeb.
If it's a choice between going to a celebrity party and staying in with Paul playing Snakes & Ladders, I'll stay in every time. Mind you, I just couldn't resist An Audience with Kylie Minogue!
QAre you a Kylie fan then?
AYes. I've got her music on my new fitness vid.
QAh yes, Dance Workout With Helen, tell us about it...
AI just did it because I like dancing, it's just about having a laugh and bopping to Kylie Minogue. Nothing too difficult. I used to teach dance four times a week back in Wales and I miss it a lot. I try and go back and do a few private lessons and classes when I can. It used to keep me fit as well and now I'm doing nothing!
QWhat? Not even, er, stuff?
AWell, I have just been on holiday with Mr Clarke. We just lay around, drank a lot of pina coladas and sunbathed a lot. Oh, and we did go on a jet ski. Nothing too strenuous though!
QDo you and Paul ever get followed by autograph hunters?
AOh, yes. At the weekend we were in Newport. I was having my hair cut and he wanted a new phone, and there was a crowd of 40 kids following us, all wanting autographs. I don't feel famous, but everyone I meet knows things about me. I never have to introduce myself to anyone anymore. They all know who I am already. I hate that, not having to say my name anymore.
QDo you have to dress up more now everyone's looking at you?
AI do have to pay attention to what I wear, but I don't go in for all that stylist stuff. I've got a designer friend called Paul (no, not THAT Paul, another one). I'll phone him up and say: "Oh, what shall I wear?" And he'll say: "Right, what haven't you worn for a while?" and he'll find me something.
QSo have you splashed out on lots of designer gear now?
AI just bought a lovely, cosy jumper from Monsoon. I like the normal places like Gap and Zara and, well, I do like Gucci, but I've got a black Gucci handbag and a pair of black Gucci shoes that Paul (yes, Clarke this time) gave me. They go with everything so that's more than enough for me.
QAnd Gucci don't really go in for pink, glittery stuff do they?
ATrue, but I do like my black too. It's nice and slimming. It's good when you're having a fat day and you want to look a bit thinner.
QDo you get fat days too?
AOh God yeah. You know when you have those times you just eat and eat and eat, like at the weekend. This weekend I just ate and ate and ate. Lovely!
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Big Brother's Helen prepares to have a good hair day Nov 21 2001
Manjiri Kulkarni
BIG BROTHER survivor Helen Adams went back to her roots yesterday, helping stylists prepare for the British Hairdresser of the Year awards ceremony.
The former hair stylist from Cwm-bran, South Wales, has continued to bask in the limelight since her eviction from the eavesdropping house in July.
She received 2,680,463 votes to come second behind Big Brother winner Brian, who won 4,231,660 votes from more than seven million people who voted on the programme.
Miss Adams, who previously worked at Classy Cutz salon in Cwm-bran did not return to work after she shot to fame in the reality TV show.
But she will be at the awards ceremony, to be held at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London on Monday.
Two nominees, Beverley Cobella and Mark Hill, helped her decide at an exclusive preview party how to wear her blonde hair for the ceremony, after Miss Adams popularised her "Helen up-do" following the success of the programme.
Instead of returning to work, she chose to capitalise on the interest generated by the programme, first by selling her story to a tabloid newspaper.
She has spent recent months following in the footsteps of Jane Fonda, Cindy Crawford and Geri Halliwell by putting together a keep-fit video The Helen Way, to be released on Boxing Day, that shows Helen, a former dancer, demonstrating disco exercise moves.
Earlier this month Miss Adams, along with Survivor winner Charlotte Hobrough, was given a special Contribution to Welsh Life award by Cardiff radio station Red Dragon.
Miss Adams's romance with fellow Big Brother contestant Paul Clarke has attracted continuing media speculation, but the pair have appeared together less and less in recent weeks.
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Big Brother star adds her bubbly voice to support for a new children's hospital Nov 24 2001
Felicity Waters Health Reporter
BIG BROTHER celebrity Helen Adams has offered her full support for the campaign to build a Children's Hospital for Wales.
Helen, from Cwmbran, who made her name earlier this year in Channel 4's Big Brother household, joined children from the Music Wales Lion King production yesterday to launch the second stage of the Noah's Ark pin badge promotion.
The appeal aims to sell a total of 100,000 badges, which picture the animals of the campaign logo.
"The lions have gone, now it's the turn of the hippo.
"The tiger and giraffe are next," said project co-ordinator Ruth Verrier Jones.
Hairdresser Helen, who is continuing to enjoy her new-found fame following an on-screen romance with Big Brother housemate Paul Clarke, said, "It's great that Wales is now going to have a Children's Hospital and really good fun to help in this way," she said.
If you wish to buy a badge at £1 each or make a donation to the Noah's Ark Appeal please call (029) 2033 5017.
The campaign to build a Children's Hospital was launched in May 2000 and is now well over half way to reaching its first phase target of £5m.
Wales is currently the only country in Europe not to have its own dedicated facility for sick children.
The hospital which is to be built on the campus of the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff will provide specialist medical facilities for children, child-friendly wards as well as much-needed family accommodation.
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Paul: I'm still with Helen Nov 11 2001
B I G Brother Romeo, Paul Clarke has quashed rumours of a split between him and our media-darling Helen Adams.
Visiting Wales this week with Big Brother's Bubble for the opening of Swansea's new HMV store, he said: "It's all great. We're having a great time. We're really into each other.
"I'm just down for the night this time, but am obviously back and forth to Wales all the time to see Helen and her lot."
Speculation arose about the Big Brother-born relationship after Paul failed to show up with Helen at last week's Red Dragon Welsh Awards in Cardiff.
The bubbly Cwmbran blonde remained radiant in a Paul Waite dress, turned up with her glam mam Liz instead.
Two different reasons were given for Paul's conspicuous absence. Helen said that his car had broken down and that he had work commitments in London.
Paul explained: "I really, really wanted to be there. Really I did, to support Helen more than anything else, but I had to stay on in London for work."
Mad-hatter Bubble was the only one posing with Paul at HMV's photo-shoot. He formed the other half to Paul's dynamic duo, thrilling fans with their blokey humour and constant banter.
Bubble revealed he'd made a sneaky visit to Wales last month for Billy Connolly's sell-out stint.
"Billy Connolly is God, isn't he? He rocks. Wales is very cool, but I'm just staying for the night, then I have to get back to work."
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There's no rift between us... Nov 4 2001
Richard Evans Reports From The Welsh Awards
WELSH reality TV queens Helen Adams and Charlotte Hobrough put paid to rumours of a rift between them as they clung together like bosom buddies at a Welsh awards night in the capital.
Hairdresser Helen from Big Brother and Survivor winner Charlotte were at Cardiff City Hall on Friday night for the prestigious Red Dragon Welsh Awards.
And despite claims the pair can't stand each other, they stuck together in their glam dresses all night, chatting and laughing.
Charlotte, the former WPC from Barry who won a million on ITV's desert island game show, said: "Whenever I meet up with Helen - usually at an event like this - we always have a great laugh.
The girls' chummy behaviour trashes reports that Charlotte thinks Cwmbran girl Helen is "a disgrace to Wales."
Charlotte was quoted as saying "Helen makes us all look stupid" - but furiously denied ever saying it.
On Friday night, Charlotte told Wales on Sunday: "I think if you're going to go on a reality TV show, you have to be quite a strong character, with a good sense of who you are - that's why Helen did so well.
"She's very together and knows who she is."
And Helen - who along with Charlotte won the Contribution to Welsh Life Award - was just as keen to compliment Charlotte.
"We bump into each other now and again, and Charlotte's always really nice," said Helen, who turned up to the awards with mother Liz but without Big Brother boyfriend Paul Clark, who was expected to be there.
"Helen's a really bubbly, fun girl. "We're having a great old time tonight." REALITY LIKES: Charlotte and Helen together
"We've both been through a similar experience so we've got that in common, and most of the time we just laugh, because everything's been so mad for both of us."
When asked where Paul was, Helen was evasive and two different stories emerged - that he had to work late and that his car had broken down on the way.
As well as winning, with Charlotte, the Contribution to Welsh Life award, Helen also won the Help a South Wales Child Award 2001 for her charity work.
"Just remember - we're doing this for the kids," Helen told the audience as she received her award.
As one of the higher visibility Big Brother 2 stars, Helen will soon branch out even further with her own fitness video.
Following in the footsteps of Geri Halliwell, Elle Macpherson, Cindy Crawford and Cher, the former dance teacher has gone back to her roots to show how to keep fit the Helen way - with some disco moves.
"It's nothing too hectic or diffi -cult, just me mucking around and trying not to mess up any of the moves," said Helen.
Dressed in baggy trousers and a vest top, with huge sparkly letters spelling out her name, Helen and two pals lead viewers through the disco work-out.
"It's great fun," Helen insisted. But Helen wouldn't show off any of the fitness moves when the awards host Jason Harrold asked her for a demonstration.
"You'll have to wait for Boxing Day when it's released," she said.
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My Fame Hell Oct 28 2001
By Jennie Bibbings
THE mother of Big Brother's Helen Adams has revealed she's been "through hell" since her daughter's meteoric rise to fame.
Mam Liz, from Cwmbran, says the stress of defending her bubbly blonde daughter against the onslaughts in the media has made her ill.
And she says she and Helen never realised how difficult the pressures of fame would be.
"All the horrible things that got said while she was in there - we've had quite a few hard lessons since the Big Brother experience," says nursery nurse Liz, 45. "As a mother I found it all very, very hard to cope with.
"I'm quite upset about a few things that have been said. Like staff at Classy Cutz saying I was poisonous - you try to cope with that.
"These people who say these things upset me greatly. All the nonsense that appears in the papers has made me quite ill. I've been through hell.
"Helen's just a normal girl who went into the Big Brother house. She can't help what's happened since. Why people have to be so back-stabbing I don't know. Is it jealousy?
"As a mother it's quite soul-destroying." Since ex-crimper Helen made headlines in Big Brother 2 when she snogged housemate Paul Clarke and dumped boyfriend Gavin Cox on live TV, Liz has been by her side throughout.
She's often present when Helen makes public appearances. There was mayhem in a
Cardiff bookshop when Helen turned up for a book-signing with Liz standing in the middle of the crowd sporting a `Big Brother Mother' T-shirt.
But being the mam of a new celeb has its downfalls - their house has been plagued with obscene phone calls, text messages and poison pen letters, and the car she shared with Helen was vandalised.
Liz says she was "deeply hurt" when she was branded "bossy and domineering" by Helen's ex-colleagues at Newport beauty salon Classy Cutz.
"Helen and I are very close as a mother and daughter," she said at the time. "We talk every day on the phone.
"I have had to stand up for Helen in work, when I've felt she was being taken advantage of. Not having lunch breaks and problems when she needed to leave on time to get to her other job as a dance teacher were regular occurrences.
"I remember when, on the night before Helen went into the Big Brother house, her manager Sharon Richards warned her she might not have a job to go back to. Helen was distraught and contemplated not going into the house for fear of losing the job she loved.
"I know for a fact that Classy Cutz has done very well out of Helen's success. The salon has received massive free publicity thanks to Helen. I'm aware it has been inundated with calls from fans wanting Helen cuts."
She says she felt dismayed earlier this week when she read a report that the Mirror editor Piers Morgan had branded her daughter a "halfwit".
The article, which upset Liz, reported Mr Morgan as having told the Society of Editors he was glad his career no longer hinged on chequebook deals with Big Brother contestants.
He recalled watching `this garbage' and wondering `Is my journalistic career going to depend on whether I can persuade some halfwit in Wales to take my company's £250,000 and reveal, in a siz -zlingly tedious four-part series, she's even more stupid than we first feared?'
Liz said his comments were a "nasty put-down".
"I just think what an ignorant man. Helen is dyslexic. Does he not realise that dyslexic people aren't stupid? Dyslexic people are not half-witted. You'd think the editor of a newspaper would have more brains to realise that."
Since her fame, Helen has taken an even greater interest in dyslexia and in helping charities that focus on the problem, according to Liz.
"Dyslexic people can do practical things - Helen can do makeup and she can do hair. She did hair and beauty at college. And she can teach dancing. Dyslexic people do practical things very well.
"There are a lot of them in this world that work extremely hard to get where they are - I don't mean in terms of publicity, but I mean as a hair-dresser and as a dance teacher.
"Helen has done a lot of fundraising for people with dyslexia. She donated a picture to a teacher who used to teach her privately at home because she needed to raise money for her school which teaches children with special needs.
"She's donated quite a lot of money to dyslexic charities.
"People around here stop me in the street and say what a wonderful example Helen is to people, and how hard she always worked at school."
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