The new series of Real Housewives of Cheshire, starting Monday, September 9, features a brand new glamorous lady – Leilani Dowding.
The 39-year-old may be a familiar face to some, as she was a seriously popular Page 3 girl in her heyday, appearing on the pages of Daily Star as well as magazines such as FHM.
But she’s switching up modelling for reality TV, as she joins Dawn Ward, Tanya Bardsley, Perla Navia, Ester Dee, Hanna Miraftab, Seema Malhotra and Rachel Lugo on the Real Housewives.
Speaking about joining the show, Leilani exclusively told Daily Star Online: “It’s definitely been dramatic. It hasn’t been really easy.
(Image: Getty Images)
(Image: Daily Record)
“I’ve come from living in LA for 15 years and it’s a big change for me anyway, then I’m meeting these new people and it’s like with anything, there are very strong characters, very opinionated people, and normally if I was to gravitate towards somebody, I’d spend loads of time with them, then I could avoid people I don’t get on with.
“But this is different, obviously there’s going to be personalities that really get on well, and there’s going to be personalities that don’t get on well.”
Leilani had been living in Los Angeles with rockstar boyfriend Billy Duffy, but they relocated to Cheshire – and the reason why may be surprising.
The brunette bombshell told us: “This is gonna sound really stupid because I actually moved to LA for the weather, but the weather is getting so ridiculously hot there now.
“I have a horse that I’ve brought over from Los Angeles I had to evacuate three times in two years from fires and it’s getting a lot hotter.”
(Image: Instagram)
She added: “I think now that I’m older, things have just changed. I want to be out in the countryside a little bit, with the ability to get into town for the action, I don’t need to be in a huge big city anymore.
“Obviously, Billy’s from Manchester, he’s English, he’s had a house in Cheshire since the 90s that he’s always come back to from time to time, so for us to come back, it just feels like coming home.
“It’s not just the weather, the whole political situation out there right now, the guns, all of that kind of stuff, there’s a lot of building going on, LA has got really busy, there’s traffic, and we just wanted a quieter life – one where we can dip in and go to the nice restaurant or a nice party and do that kind of stuff as well, without having to be right in it all the time.”
And while returning to the UK is a homecoming for Leilani, she admits joining the Cheshire housewives in their mammoth 10th season has been a shock to the system.
(Image: Kelly Jenkins)
She told us: “[I was surprised by] how real things can get.
“I suppose when it comes to the drama, it does get quite explosive because if you touch on someone’s opinion or nerve about something else it can get quite explosive.”
This series, the ladies head to Prague to check out Ester’s home country, and when Daily Star Online spoke to Leilani before they headed away, she confessed she was “nervous”.
She told us: “I haven’t gone on girls’ trips since I was about 18 or maybe 20, and that was with three girls. This is eight women, very strong women. So it’s a bit like ‘Oooh!'”
(Image: ITV)
But it sounds like the series will be one to watch, as Leilani teased: “There’s a lot going on in it.
“I think that’s another nice thing about the show, sometimes it’s not drama, there’s real life issues going on, health concerns or relationship changes.”
Last month, Daily Star named Leilani as one of their favourite glamour girls ever.
Speaking of the honour, Leilani told us: “Thank you to the people at Daily Star for putting me in their top glamour girls, I really like that. I’m really happy to make it in there.”
The Real Housewives of Cheshire launches Monday 9th September at 9pm on ITVBe
