Highlights of the interview included Toyah saying of her facelift: "Sometimes it is a selfish act, and I did it because I wanted to do something. But having a facelift doesn't stop you ageing, you're gonna carry on ageing, nothing will stop that, but hopefully I'll do it a little more attractively..."

She also asked the interviewer, Marcus Brigstocke, "Am I boring you shitless?"

He went on to check behind Toyah's ear to have a look at her surgey scars, while she sat on his knee!

Marcus: Oh my God... Oh there's almost nothing there!

Toyah: You see it's good work!

Marcus: Right, but I'm not gonna grab it and pull!!

Toyah: Oh by the way, I've had my arse done, could you feel that too?!!

Marcus: Yes I could! & I wanna say for the record: I'm not bored now!!

Many thanks to Andrew York for the screen capture and information. Please visit Dreamscape's Forum (Toyah Tit-bits! - Toyah BBC4 TV Interview, Transcript & Pix) for a full transcript of the interview.

Please click on the picture to view more of Andrew's screen caps in the Captured section. Andrew's Toyah website can be found @ www.geocities.com/imagemeister1/Toyah.html

• Glasgow Evening Times - Gina McKie [Saturday 26th March 2005]

The other day I read something which has inspired me to try and read a book a week: 'To read is to lead, and all great leaders are wonderful readers'.

This week I have chosen two books - oh yes, I am getting ahead in this game - and so far I am thoroughly enjoying both of them.

Even though I am not considering a facelift - no laughing at the back, please - I've been reading Toyah Willcox's new book, Diary Of A Facelift.

It is a truly remarkable account of Toyah's quest to look 10 years younger.

• Wales Western Mail - Is plastic really that fantastic? [Tuesday 22nd March 2005]

Recently, it seems like everyone and her sister is having cosmetic surgery. Jade Goody and her new boobs, Anne Robinson and her facelift, even Toyah's written a book about botox, collagen and all the work she's had done. But is a face full of toxins and a body full of silicone really what we should be aspiring to? Or, as Kathryn Gray, argues, should we learn to love our natural selves just a little bit more....?

Some are more forthcoming about cosmetic work.

Lisping 80s soft-punk Toyah Willcox has recently written a book about her face lift.

The store ran striking ads in a number of Sunday newspapers last weekend, and all this week have featured the publication prominently in its bookshops throughout the UK. Many shops have featured window displays and in-store areas dedicated entirely to Toyah's new "diary".

• Toyah in the Top Ten!! -The book has been placed at, a healthy, number eight this week in Waterstones' Best Sellers list.

• Most other major book stores, as well as many smaller book shops, are promoting the book with special window or instore displays. These include Borders and The Works.

Thanks to Andrew York for the scan. Thanks also to Alec Kelly, John Wain and everyone @ the Forum for the info.

• Toyah guested earlier this week on the Hatch & Duffus Show, on BFBS Radio 1. She was, of course, on to talk about her facial surgery.

• Apparently some editions of last week's 'Independent On Sunday' featured a two-page feature/interview on Toyah.

• Wednesday's 'Daily Mail' also ran a two-page interview with Toyah (and Robert) - NIP 'N' TUCK GAVE MY MARRIAGE A FACELIFT: Toyah Willcox has made much of her £7,500 facelift. Here she talks about its consequences... and her husband reveals what HE thinks about it...

• The Sunday Times: Vanessa Wilde's secret diary [Sunday 27th March 2005]

In which Vanessa agonises about going under the knife — who will she end up looking like?

Having a face-lift is probably the most important decision I will ever make. It’s like playing God with myself. It’s awesome. So, of course, I can’t help worrying, now that I’ve made a date with my surgeon, Mr Absolutely Wonderful. I mean, Toyah Willcox, who has come out about her face-lift, just looks ordinary. She used to have a funny look that nobody else had, which was Toyah. Not as good-looking as me, obviously, but sort of adorable, in a wacky way. And now, she ’s just standard-issue pretty woman. 

'Love Is The Law', boasting five bonus tracks, is officially available on CD as of tomorrow. And as with last month's 'Warrior Rock' CD this is another not-to-be-missed release, with the artwork, once again, capturing the essence of the original album and yet bringing it bang up-to-date too.

The booklet (a sample of which I have scanned) has detailed musician/production/design credits, full lyrics to all 15 songs, two-page sleevenotes by Toyah (explaining why she titled the album so, events that surrounded the recording and release, and why she loves 'Love Is The Law'), related press adverts, single sleeves, memoribilia, comprehensive sleevenotes by Alan Robinson, and eight classic Toyah photographs from the era.

What more could you ask for? 

Unfortunately I can't make it as I've been stuck in bed for most of the week with some sort of yucky fluey type thing - *sniff*! Hope everyone who goes has a brilliant night.

And a very HAPPY EASTER too to everyone.

I'm A Celebrity star Toyah, who is now all over the media talking about her facelift, told me that she did it so that she could land some more acting work. 

She reveals: "People actually forget that I am an actress too, lots of them just think I am some 80s pop relic who is now in the twilight of her career. But acting in a period drama is what I am looking at and one or two things are starting to come through now."

• Many of the cosmetic/plastic surgery websites have now picked up on the news of Toyah's facelift and/or book and are reporting on it. Many, for some unknown reason, seem to be using the extracts first published in 'The Telegraph' a fortnight ago.

• Toyah was interviewed on BBC Radio Five Live last Tuesday morning:

BBC Radio Five Live: Victoria Derbyshire [Tuesday 22nd March 2005]

The actress, singer and TV presenter talks to Victoria Derbyshire about her plastic surgery and the book she's written about her experience. This interview can be listened to, @ the Five Live website, by clicking on the "Listen Again" link.

• The Scotsman: Getting under our skin [Sunday 27th March 2005]

Cut-price offers and celebrity endorsement have made plastic surgery as commonplace as buying a car, but the decision to undergo a major operation should not be taken lightly 

Programmes such as the American drama Nip/Tuck have helped normalise the once controversial operations in the eyes of the public. 

Hollywood actress Demi Moore is one of the biggest cosmetic surgery junkies, spending more than $400,000 on breast implants, liposuction and collagen implants. Former Atomic Kitten Natasha Hamilton, model Nell McAndrew and singer Dannii Minogue have all had their breasts enhanced. 

But Searle believes this glamorising of cosmetic surgery is desensitising the public to the potential dangers involved in procedures. He claims cosmetic surgery should be considered on the same level as having major heart surgery or a hip replacement. 

Searle, a consultant plastic surgeon at the Royal Marsden Hospital in London, operated on the Queen in 2003 during a dual operation on her knee. 

Next month he will address the Edinburgh International Science Festival in a bid to dispel some of the myths surrounding plastic surgery. He told Scotland on Sunday: "I am aiming to urge caution about the epidemic of plastic surgery we are facing in this country." 

The surgeon said: "We are seeing people like Toyah Willcox talking openly about having a facelift in a national newspaper where a few years ago people like her would never have admitted to this. 

"A general social acceptance of plastic surgery has come about and it is leading people to think that because they look a bit tired they need an operation." 

The Lee Mack Show : BBC Radio Two - Thursday 7th April : 10.00pm
The Lee Mack Show : BBC Radio Two - Saturday 9th April : 1.30pm
Lee Mack presents a variety show, with stand-up, sketches and a musical guest star each week. This week, he is joined by Toyah Willcox and stand-up comedian Noel Britton. He is also ably assisted by long-suffering sidekick Angela McHale and house band leader Steve Brown.

The Most Fertile Man In Ireland : Sky Movies 9 - Saturday 9th April : 2.30am
Bedded by his town's good-time girl, Eamonn quickly acquires a reputation as a man who can make babies. While both sides of Belfast struggle with their sperm-counts, the lucky man becomes the hot property of both Catholics and Protestants. Crown jewel comedy. Director: Dudi Appleton. Starring: Kris Marshall, Kathy Kiera Clarke, Bronagh Gallagher, James Nesbitt, Kenneth Cranham, Toyah Willcox and Olivia Nash.

Queenmania : ITV1 - Saturday 9th April : 9.15pm
With Toyah, Mel C, Heather Small and more, performing Queen songs. The programme was filmed on Thursday 24th March @ The Fountain Studios, Wembley, London.

H Side Story : Each Sunday around 1pm on Ch4/5pm on E4 for the next four weeks
Toyah is scheduled to pop up in one of these instalments in this reality show about ex-Steps H.

Toyah Willcox insists she wasn't bowing to pressure by having a facelift, just trying to look as young as she feels. By Abigail Wild

It's only once you've said goodbye to Toyah Willcox that you realise there was no involuntary intake of breath when she arrived. No need to avert the eyes slightly or to quickly conjure up an approving smile in a way that someone meeting Jackie Stallone or Michael Jackson for the first time might. Toyah still looks like Toyah, the singer and actress turned inspirational speaker - just a much fresher version of her...

The interview mainly covers most of the subject matter Toyah has already talked about elsewhere, and that I've reproduced in articles/interviews over the past few weeks so I don't think there's much need to add this one.

Frightening

One apparently said she looked about 92 and was frightening without her make-up.

Toyah, who has the figure of a teenager, was stung into action. She looked for a surgeon, found a good one in Paris and had the operation.

Her book, Diary Of A Facelift, is a must for anyone contemplating this radical surgery.

It includes graphic descriptions of the operation and many lurid photos of Toyah’s recovery.
As someone who would never dream of tampering with my face in this way, I found it horrific and rather scary — but I have to say she does look absolutely terrific.

She’s managed to avoid the LA “wind tunnel” look so beloved of ageing stars like Joan Rivers, and simply looks like she’s had a terrific holiday and a good rest.

Toyah reckons the surgery has given her career a real boost. She’s due to film a couple of movies and regularly takes part in nostalgic tours featuring acts from the ’80s.

Lucky

She’s lucky enough to have the time, intelligence and money to search for a surgeon who knows what he’s doing and who was happy to give check-ups and aftercare.

She needed help with some of the work around her eyes when it wasn’t settling down. Her surgeon was always on the end of a phone and even came over to the UK to treat her.

Not everyone who has surgery is as lucky as Toyah, who made a good recovery and refreshingly decided to come clean about the operation.

The Sunday Post, 20th March 2005

• 'Mail On Sunday' - Diary of Toyah, an insecure actress [Sunday 20th March 2005]
Has there ever been such self-serving nonsense written as Toyah Willcox's Diary Of A Facelift?

I like Toyah but what is she doing? She describes what she is undergoing as 'the last taboo'. A taboo?

Has she not noticed that a few other people in the public eye have been open about their surgery? Has she never seen Nip/Tuck?

Does she not know that even civilians go to Cape Town for their Surgery and Safari breaks?

Her main motivation is that Jonathan Ross said she didn't look too hot without makeup. The bandages finally come off and she writes of herself: 'It would be a brave soul who could bear to be remembered for having a facelift and writing about it.' Isn't bravery an attribute that others should confer on you?

She says she's 'proud to be such a good advert for middle age'. Oh no, not another woman striking a blow for women by slicing herself up. An advert for insecure actresses maybe.

Thanks to Andrew York for the article.

• Jonathan Ross Show [Friday 18th March 2005]
Jonathan showed and a picture of Toyah on his late-night BBC1 chat show last Friday, and made a (supposedly) half-hearted apology to Toyah for being the "instigator" of her "£17,000" worth of cosmetic surgery. People seem to have differing points of view on whether this was a genuine response or not. Let's face it, JR isn't known for his lack of sarcasm so even if he does feel a tad guilty I doubt he would 'fess up on his own show.

• The Guardian - The Feminist [Friday 18th March 2005]
Q: What is Toyah Willcox doing having a face lift? Shouldn't she know better? 

A: It is galling for such an admirable woman to be setting such a bad example to the sisterhood, but one can't blame individuals for succumbing to the awful pressure society heaps on women to look forever young. Especially not individuals who live out their lives in a glare of publicity. 

And at least Toyah has been upfront about the fact that she has risked her life for the sake of a faux second-youth. The worst thing about this cosmetic surgery business is that celebs generally lie through their teeth about having work done, which means that ordinary women end up feeling wretched to find they have a bunch of wrinkles when they're "only 35". 

Actually, I do know who to blame for all this: men like Jonathan Ross, who slagged Toyah off for looking haggard in a show she appeared in; this was one of the things, she says, that convinced her that surgery was a good idea. 

One final point: surgeons issued a warning this week about the trivialisation of cosmetic procedures. They explained that a hysterectomy - major surgery - takes 45 minutes, while many cosmetic operations take three hours. 

Sisters, don't do it. Make wrinkles the new pink - it's the only way. 

• The Sunday Times - Scotland [Sunday 20th March 2005]
A different kind of face-off in Glasgow

Toyah received a mention in an article about the growth of cosmetic/plastic surgery etc in Glasgow...

Britain’s first high-street cosmetic surgery clinic is proving a roaring success. Anna Burnside furrows her brow and investigates our obsession with perfection

It all looks so easy on television. You start off with panda eyes, droopy brows, skin like a crumpled paper bag and hair that has been brushed with a pork chop. Little wonder passers-by estimate your age at 53. A few tweaks and tucks later, you are striding through Covent Garden while admiring young men put you at about, oh, 28. 

Channel 4’s hugely successful makeover show, 10 Years Younger, is just one of the factors credited with the boom in cosmetic procedures. American imports Nip/Tuck, Extreme Makeover and The Swan are other hour-long adverts for the benefits of the Botox jab and the acid peel. Then there are the ironed, immobilised faces of the rich and famous. For every celebrity who sneaks off to have a discreet little adjustment to a bit that jiggles or sags, there is another who can’t keep quiet about the benefits of surgery. If it isn’t Sharon and Ozzy Osbourne, with their his’n’hers set of debagged eyes and jowl-free jaw lines, it’s Toyah Wilcox, whose bandaged head and gruesome stitched eyes have been everywhere, plugging her new book, Diary of a Facelift. 

This will be the fourth time the set has been available. Originally issued, ten years ago, back in 1995 (on the Tring label) and again, with the same artwork, three years later (on the QED label).

The album was last made available in 2001, this time with completely different artwork (on the Maverick/Cedar label). Each time the tracklisting has been identical.

For some reason it looks like it will be retailing at full price (approx £10.99). Strange, especially as the previous releases were all budget CD's.

The Observer asked writers, critics and celebrities what books they'll be packing for their holidays this summer. The answer: everything from Kafka to Liberace, Byron to Bryson, commas, comas and Buddhist awakenings 

Toyah Willcox: Musician 

I have never been as excited by modern literature as in the past 12 months. It started when I bought The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold (Picador), out of morbid fascination for the subject matter and to fill the lonely hours in my dressing room between shows. Within two paragraphs, the author kidnapped my mind; this book had me shouting out loud with joy, terror and anger. I now buy it for all my friends and insist they read it and report back to me. 

The feature includes six new pictures, taken just last week at Toyah's home in Worcestershire.

"As her 'Diary Of A Facelift' is published Toyah Willcox tells us how her life, not just her appearance, has been transformed".

• Toyah guested on yesterday afternoon's The Vanessa Feltz Show on BBC Radio London. The show was webcast, so anyone around the globe could have listened in (and watched) if they wished. Some of the highlights of the chat included:

Vanessa: "I think my guest not only looks great but is very brave and courageous.. I'm staring. You do look amazing. You look how you used to look 15 years ago."

Toyah: "I look my age."

Vanessa: "I don't think you do."

Toyah replies: "Oh!" She then went on to talk about The Ebony Tower, shopping around for plastic surgeons etc. As well as squeamish talk about eyelids and ears.

Toyah: "It's a very natural look."

Vanessa: "Anne Robinson looks like she has had a head transplant."

Toyah: "I like how Anne looks!"

Vanessa: "Oh, I think she looks great, I'm not being nasty, but she doesn't look like herself. How many people don't tell the truth?"

Toyah (laughing): "Oh, good diet!" 

[ During the news break Toyah could be seen showing her scars to Vanessa. ]

A few callers rang in to speak to Toyah. Ironically, the first caller wanted to talk about music. Keith from the Wirral asked what her own favourite was from her career.

Toyah said she doesn't listen to her own music but that she was "particularly proud" of 'Love Is The Law'. "from 1983, "a great period". She also mentioned the album, along with other back catalogue, is being issued soon on CD. Toyah also reminisced about the fans who were invited into the studio to sing backing vocals on the 'Love Is The Law' title track.

She said she wasn't sure if there would be any new music but mentioned that are live gigs coming this year and that the music side of her career was "picking up".

There followed phone calls about facelifts, botox etc. Toyah said that for three years prior to her facelift she had been having regular botox injections under her eyes.

Vanessa: "What were you most scared of?"

Toyah: "Pain. There's also that chance that it might not work."

Vanessa: "She looks sensational, and I'm not just saying that to be polite. She looks stunning, amazing..."

[ Toyah turns round and waves to the webcam. ]

Vanessa: "We're staring, we're allowed to stare. When someone writes a book called 'Diary Of A Facelift' you're allowed to stare."

Toyah talked a bit about her post-surgery experiences: "I look good, but I'm not an advert for this. I've loved my '40s and I'm quite happy to go into my '50s."

After the interview Toyah was seen autographing a copy of the new book.

The full interview should be available to listen to at the 'BBC London' website soon.

• Don't forget that Toyah is scheduled to be in the 'Independent on Sunday' and 'Scotland on Sunday' newspapers this,er, Sunday :o)

During the show Toyah reminisced about being Sylivia's dresser at the Alexandra Theatre, Birmingham, in the early 1970's. Sylvia replied that she didn't remember, but then later said that she had "known Toyah for 30 years" so perhaps she was joking.

Libby Purves: "Actress, writer, singer, broadcaster; Toyah Willcox. A very different kind of autobiography because it is an unnervingly honest diary of a facelift, the title. Before we ask why the facelift, why the book? You didn't have to do that, did you?"

Toyah: "I know, but I wanted to do something very brazen, very confrontational, and very honest, about an industry that isn't gonna go away. That people have been diving into and co-ercing with for many, many decades. I always knew I was gonna have some form of surgery. I think I'm quite body-dysmorphic, I've only just started, at the age of 46, to be comfortable in the body I live in. And I'm ready to live. I'm confident, I'm happy, but I felt my body and my energy were just going in completely different directions. I work on the edge of celebrity in a world that is so... obsessed with image, with fashion, with coiture, all of that. And I just didn't fit it.

And one thing I was very critical about is my face. I always have been. Even my record covers have only been my face. I felt that, if even I can't stand looking in the mirror without my heart sinking then I'm going to do something about it."

LP: "You didn't want to be one of those women who just, sort of, have it done and don't really talk about it. Disappear for a while and say; 'No, no, I've been taking vitamins'?"

Toyah: "This is a multi-layered cake. If a woman came up to me and said: 'Gosh! you look wonderful', and I said it was my diet, I feel I'd be kharmically doing her damage.

There are many, many women out there who look fantastic, who do more than have a good diet. And I'm not afraid to talk about it. I think you have the right to say no, you have the right to say yes you have. but, let's have an honest debate about this. Let's not make victims of women, cos it almost seems that women are damned if they do, damned if they don't."

LP: "It's interesting. You do come very clean in the book and, indicate to us quite clearly some of the reasons for you being, as you say, body dysmorphic. In your childhood... you were born with an awful lot of physical problems, weren't you?"

Toyah: "And invisible disability, which can have its pressures on people, because it's not obvious, therefor people think you've got a funny walk..."

[ Toyah goes on to talk about her, already well documented, physical problems while growing up. ]

LP: "You're extremely keen to be perfect. To get as near perfect as possible?"

Toyah: "Well quite ironically I think I'm someone who is so quirky I never quite fit under the banner of normality anyway. But I think I did this because I wanted to fit under the banner of normality. It's very contradictory."

LP: "It's worse than the banner of normality, it's the banner of celebrity."

Toyah: "I have to disagree with that because more women out of the public eye have surgery than women in it. Women in the public eye are scared to have surgery."

LP: "But in your case there was this extra spur. You're very honest about how wounded you were when Jonathan Ross was rude about your appearance on I'm A Celebrity. Did it not occur to you to say to yourself that Jonathan Ross is, basically, a prat."

Sylvia Syms: "Jonathan Ross is so plain looking. Why should you be bothered?"

Toyah: "He's rude about everyone. I actually phoned him and talked to him about it. This is a completely different argument. What it is... I went into I'm A Celebrity because I phoned the producers and asked to go in because I love the programme. And I went in rally proud of who I was. I felt physically fit. I've achieved a lot. I've had a brilliant 30-year career."

LP: "I thought you looked fine. Like a jungle woman."

Toyah: "But hang on. I came out of the jungle, and everything, everyone was obsessed with the fact I didn't wear make-up. Now, it gave me the incentive and the courage to go through with something that actually takes an incredible leap of faith. To put your face, the most naked pArt of you from the moment you're born to the moment you die, in the hands of someone else, is quite an extraordinary thing to do."

LP: "The shopping around for surgeons is a terrifying bit of the book. You did meet some sinister old creeps down Harley Street, didn't you?"

Toyah: "Let's put it this way. We always, on telly, get the surgeon's perspective, the surgeon's point of view. You never get the point of view of the person who's been through it. And what it's like to go through major surgery, and let's face it, it is major surgery. And I started writing a diary about the whole process because it was like the maddest thing I've ever done and I don't really expect to do it again.

People were starting to phone me, who were in the business, who I'd never met, and they knew what I was doing, and they said; 'Could you tell us what it's like? Could we do it? Could we get away with it?' And I was emailing them my diary, and I thought in the end 'sod it! I'm gonna publish this'. Because this is a big industry, we need to self-regulate it.

I look natural. People would never have guessed I've had surgery. And if we don't insist that surgeons have aesthetic tastes and aesthetic judgements then people could possibly go in..."

Sylvia Syms: "But Toyah. Half the people doing it now aren't even qualified. It's become a growth industry."

LP: "I like the description of the surgeon who hardly even looked at you. He just said 'that'll be four thousand quid', he didn't look you in the eye."

Toyah: "And I was 29! And he was late for the appointment. And he didn't even look at me! He just said 'go and book it now with the secretary. Four thousand pounds'. And I thought 'Wait a minute. You haven't answered any of my questions. I'm 29. How long will it last? Will it look terrible when I'm 50?' And this was a very famous British surgeon."

SS: "Were you thinking of having it done at 29?"

Toyah: "Yeah. Because I was working on a movie with Lord Olivier, called The Ebony Tower, and the lighting man said 'You've really got to do something about your eyes. It's your responsibilty, cos I can't light them to make them look good anymore'."

LP: "The actual experience. you express very well what it is like to be a terrifically healthy, fit, perfectly okay, cos you are, beautiful person. And to let somebody draw on your face. And go under the anaesthetic, and wake up all puffed up and disgusting..."

Toyah: "I've got to be careful here. I did an interview yesterday where the cameraman passed out. This is not a subject matter that most... Men don't like it..."

LP: "Let's just say there are accounts of bruising scars inside your eyelids, and stitches poking into your eyeball, and turning bright yellow. There were times when you thought 'I'm doing this voluntarily, I'm crazy, I wasn't ill to start with!"

Toyah: "It's totally voluntary. And it's contradictory because I'm into homeopathy. I'm non-dairy, mostly vegetarian. And here's the great contradiction - I'm very spiritual... and I go and have a facelift. But I do think I'm allowed the right. And I'm allowed the right to say no as well, but I spent six months finding the surgeon I found. So my confidence in him was 100%, but it is also utterly ludicrous what you go through because you've made yourself a victim, and you are completely in the hands of someone else.

It's the most extraordinary position to be in. And I think we have to be honest about the whole journey, so we weed out the weaklings - those people who aren't psychologically up for it - because you have to have a certain amount of strength to go through with it."

LP: "I think I'll just end the programme, and go along with Barbara Cartland. She says: 'A woman after 40 has to choose between her face and her figure. My advice is to keep a nice plump face and stay sitting down!' Drape the pink drapes around you. Terrifying book! Anyway, I think it may put off as many people as it attracts, which is quite a good thing."

Toyah: "Which is one of the points."

The cover feature, 'My facelift changed my life', boasts five pages and features further extracts from the 'Diary Of A Facelift' book.

"After appearing on I'm A Celebrity - Get Me Out Of Here! singer and actress Toyah Willcox was so devastated by jibes about her haggard appearance that she had a facelift aged just 45. Now she's written a searingly honest diary chronicling the fear, misunderstandings and paranoia she endured in her quest for a youthful face - and her joy at the outcome of her surgery. Here's our exclusive extract in her own words..."

Look out for Toyah in other "celebrity" magazines in the not too distant future.

Thanks to Damon King.

The former pop star's decision to go under the knife followed comments by male commentators after appearing in I'm A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here. 

In her new book, the 46-year-old actress explains how a gruelling tour in the title role of Calamity Jane had affected her looks. She says: "I looked haggard and gaunt and no amount of sleep could cure the tiredness imprinted on my face. I felt so bad about my appearance that I couldn't look in the mirror without my heart sinking." Willcox says she had been contemplating cosmetic surgery since she was 26 and was concerned her skin was ageing rapidly. But the catalyst was appearing in I'm A  Celebrity in 2003. 

She says: "On returning home, I read various derogatory newspaper articles about my jungle experience and listened to hurtful comments about me on radio and television programmes. There seemed to be an obsession with the fact that I hadn't worn any make-up in the jungle. On his Radio2 show, Jonathan Ross said I looked so awful that I shouldn't be allowed to be seen on television, and that male tabloid writers backed up this view. The worst thing was that, secretly, I agreed with them." 

Willcox paid a surgeon in Paris £7,500 to do a "lower lift" to get rid of her "sagging jaw line" and work around her eyes. Willcox says: "The reality of it all hit me hard, but the unavoidable truth is that, if you want to look better, your skin has to be cut. 

I realised that, despite having done everything possible to remain in good shape over the years - I don't smoke, drink, over eat or stay up late - age inevitably catches up with you." 

The chronicling of her surgery was taken from her book Diary Of A Facelift, extracts of which were published today in the Daily Telegraph. Her husband Robert went with her to the hospital in February last year. 

She says: "Because I was completely incapable of conversation I sent Robert away with a hug and a kiss, telling him I would be fine. 

"As he walked off, it dawned on me that the next time I would see him my face would have changed for ever. Will it be good, will it be bad? Is this the point of no return? I was past caring; I was too damn tired." 

• Cosmetic Surgery News: 'On the operating table, I started to shake...' (15th March 2005)
"Actress Toyah Willcox had been thinking of having cosmetic surgery for 20 years. In the first of two exclusive extracts from her new book, she describes how hurtful comments from male media commentators spurred her on to take the plunge at the age of 46. What I am about to undergo is the last taboo. It is a blisteringly cold February morning in Paris; the kind of morning that should be spent lying in bed wrapped in the arms of a loved one. Instead, I am lying on an operating table, drowsy from a pre-op sedative, thinking of my parents and crying, wondering if they will ever forgive me if anything goes wrong. I haven't told them I'm here. They think I'm on holiday, spending a week alone with Robert, my husband, in this most romantic of European cities. In three minutes' time, a stranger will pump me full of white anaesthetic fluid and then another will cut me open. This moment is more personal than any sexual act."

• Toyah guested on yesterday's Midweek on BBC Radio 4. It was an interesting interview, with Toyah being grilled slightly more seriously than the cosy chats with Lorraine Kelly and Richard Allinson the previous day. [Please check back soon for a full transcript of the Midweek interview]

• No Toyah content in yesterday's 'Daily Express'. It may be that the double page feature/interview in Monday's edition was the tabloid's coverage.

• Toyah guests on The Vanessa Feltz Show on BBC London Live later today. She will be interviewed from 4.15pm and can be listened to online at the BBC London website. It'll be interesting to see if Toyah can get a word in edgeways as Vanessa does love to talk, talk, talk ;o)

• Toyah is also listed as guesting, via a pre-recorded interview, on Sky Active. I can't find this programme in my TV listings guide, unforunately. Does anyone know anything about it?

There are also scheduled guest spots on ITV1's This Morning and BBC Radio 5 Live. Also airing interviews and feature spots will be BBC Radio Scotland (The Arts Show), Teletext (Total Entertainment) and BFBS Radio 1 (Hatch and Duffus Show). Further print coverage will include Hello! Magazine (interview with Rosalind Powell and new photo shoot) and the Sunday Mirror's Celebs On Sunday Magazine (2-3 page feature - late March/early April).

Plus: ITN Multimedia will have a filmed interview for release via video-phone networks, on Virgin trains and possibly on news channels.

All of the above is subject to change. Keep an eye on the Official Toyah website for updates on further 'Diary Of A Facelift' appearances, interviews, features and articles.

Items in bold have already occurred. [ News Source: www.toyahwillcox.com ]

The extract included various dates from the book. Yet another new photograph of Toyah accompanied the article.

• Toyah guested on Steve Wright In The Afternoon on BBC Radio 2 yesterday afternoon. The show was hosted by Richard Allinson as Steve is on holiday.

He started off the interview by mentioning that in the US people are "treating" their pets to various types of cosmetic surgery, including facelifts and, even, genital re-shaping, to which Toyah giggled: "I don't think I'd have genital re-shapng myself, actually!"

She went on to say that she had been contemplating having her facelift for the past 20 years: "I found myself unattractive. She said she told the surgeon to "make me look like Joan Rivers. Just stretch everything so that a baseball would hit me and shoot a mile, I wanted everything to be really tight!"

Toyah also said that it was going onto I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! that gave her the "leap of faith" to have surgery. And she admitted that immediately before the op she was thinking: "This is vanity, this is selfish, this is something I can't live with..."

She also mused: "My body looked like a wreck yet spirtually I felt like a great person, and I just wanted to marry them back together again.... I look in the mirror and now I don't see tired eyes, and my eyes were really bad. I now see the spirited soul I was in my '20s."

Richard Allinson, on a number of occasions mentioned how "gorgeous" Toyah looked. How she didn't look like she had had a facelift: "She just looks like she eats well. She was never plug ugly anyway, but now she looks great."

Toyah concluded the chat by saying: "My sexuality faded and now I think it's been restored."

• There has also been coverage in the 'London Evening Standard'.

• Toyah is scheduled to guest on this morning's Midweek, on BBC Radio 4 at 9.00am. The show can be re-listened to after it is broadcast on the Radio 4 website.

• There should also be a feature in today's 'Daily Express', in the 'Express Woman' section of the newspaper.

Lorraine introduced Toyah thus: "Do you remember this woman? Feisty, young, and hailed as a punk rock icon!", followed by a mini clip of  the 'I Want To Be Free' video.

Lorraine, jokingly, commented that Toyah looks 12 on the cover of 'Diary Of A Facelift'.

Lorraine: You look really good and you look like yourself.