Even before that chirpy voice greets me, I feel I already know more than anyone has a right to know about Toyah Willcox . 

I know she was so certain she didn't want children that she was sterilised 20 years ago. I know she has one of showbiz's more unconventional marriages, husband, guitarist Robert Fripp living and working in the US while her home - where the couple meet up periodically - is in Worcestershire. 

I know she had a facelift in 2004, because she wrote a book about it. And I know she has a tense relationship with her mother because Willcox tells us so among the home truths in a frank online diary. 

Apparently, Willcox accepted years ago that if her life is an open book, no one need go digging to find any secret chapters. 

"I don't get pestered by the press. I don't have problems with the paparazzi. There just haven't been any problems because honesty is disarming." 

Now she wants to bare her soul about something else - the topic of women growing old. "I feel very strongly that no one talks about the journey a woman makes from the age of 48 to 60. It's a mammoth journey," says Willcox, who is 49 tomorrow. "In Inuit culture, it is the most powerful part of a woman's life. In western culture, it is deemed as the hag, the termagant. But it is phenomenally exciting and challenging. 

"In the west, the menopause is seen as some horrendous illness, but it's there for a reason. Women become infertile physically, but mentally I believe we become more fertile. I'm fascinated about that. I've never felt more ready to sit down and write than at this age." 

So why, if she is so comfortable with the passing years, did Toyah undergo a facelift after her 2003 stint in the I'm A Celebrity jungle drew catty comments about her haggard appearance? 

"I had the facelift to look well," she replies. "I was incredibly healthy, but I was looking as if I was terminally ill. I didn't want people looking at me for the rest of my life asking if I was OK. My surgery was purely to freshen me up." So, it is no surprise to hear her say that the best time of her life is right now. 

"I love my life. I have a fantastic time. I'm unbelievably wealthy, I work every day and my work is an absolute joy," she says.  

Nostalgia 

At the same time as seizing the day, though, she is also happy to wallow in nostalgia with yet another 1980s tour, which will put her on stage at Tatton Park, with the likes of Bananarama and Belinda Carlisle on July 29. 

"Yes, it's shameless nostalgia. For me, it is not a dirty word," she says. "We are playing music that people went to school to, had their first crushes to, possibly their first marriage to." 

It is 30 years since Birmingham-born Willcox first hove into public view in Derek Jarman's acclaimed punk movie Jubilee. A part in the quintessential mod movie Quadrophenia followed, then a string of pop hits through the Eighties.  

But her CV also runs from Shakespeare to the Teletubbies, Songs Of Praise to TV's Good Sex Guide. She is turning to writing more recently, not just songs but also a book currently with publishers and a TV drama script. 

"I'm not an intellectual snob. I treat everything with equal enthusiasm. I never think I shouldn't have done a job. Everything has a beneficial side." 

So, what was the beneficial side of I'm A Celebrity? 

"Apart from the £1m it made me, it led to the four scripts a week and the average of four TV programmes a month I get offered," she says.  

At her busiest, Willcox claims to work 20-hour days, and is constantly turning down projects, particularly reality TV shows and anything to do with lifestyle and fashion. 

"I say no to 70 per cent of what I'm offered. I'm planning for the next 10 years. If it is something I really can't get into - shopping, designer handbags or shoes - I'm just not interested.  

"I don't shop; I have someone that sends me stuff. I don't wear high heels. It's just not part of my life. I don't have time to shop.  

"I run a property business in the south of France. I have a game show business. I am writing scripts now and doing endless concerts." 

Gates for the Here and Now show at Tatton Park open at 4pm, while the concert begins at 7.30pm. Tickets are £29 (with £2 discounts for groups of ten or more. Under fives go free). To book tickets call 0870 060 1768 or click here for the Halle show on July 28 show and here for the Here and Now July 29 show.  
 

Manchester Evening News
17th May 2007