insideKENT Magazine Issue 37 - April 2015 | Page 84

FASHION+BEAUTY
FIGHT TO FORTUNE cont.

Creating a £50 million empire
doesn't happen overnight; it doesn't
happen without a little graft, and
most millionaires certainly won't tell
you how they did it. Fortunately,
43-year-old lingerie-tycoon-turnedinspirational-speaker, Michelle
Mone, is not someone who wants
to keep her cards close to her
chest, revealing all her highs and
lows in life and business in her
explosive new autobiography, My
Fight to the Top.
The no-holds-barred book,
published on 5th March, packs
more than a punch as the Glasgow
gal, who made her money with
fashionable lingerie brand Ultimo,
recounts her rags-to-riches tale
blow by blow.
"I didn't have the nicest experience
doing the book, because I had
blanked out a lot of things that
happened in my life," the feisty Scot
confesses, covering everything and
everyone from poverty, bullies and
would-be sex offenders to corrupt
business partners and a public
divorce.
"I had a lot of arguing with myself,
asking 'do I be so open, the way I
have been, or do I just give little
snippets?' I thought well if I'm going
to do it, I'm going to do it right, and

I've really exposed everything. It
was almost like a year of therapy.
It made me give up the booze and
I'm a completely different person
than when I first signed the
agreement with Blink Publishing.
I've closed all of these chapters
now, as they were all still open. I
hadn't moved on from it all. But,
now I have.

but then I phoned my mum
and she came running round
and said 'what the hell are
you doing, there are kids who
are dying of cancer and you're
thinking of ending it all over
money?' There's lots of
stories in it like that, but also
how you create brands and
build a company – so it's a
mixture. And it's describes
how every time I was told 'no'
by someone, I turned that into
a yes."

It's an explosive book that tells the
whole insight of running a business,
the trials and tribulations, the
struggle, and everything that has
gone on and it really is its title, My
Fight to the Top, because it really
has been a bloody fight."

It's no wonder that with the
life that Michelle's had, there's
interest to turn her book into
a movie. "Actually I just got
a call from a producer who
wants to meet up with me."
The Scot was quick to
respond when asked who
she'd want to play her: "my
favouri te actress of all time is Julia Roberts." Perhaps not a surprise, as it
was Julia who helped bring the Ultimo brand to light after wearing Michelle's
bras in the movie, Erin Brockovich.

The biggest fight Michelle says she
was forced to relive, was when she
wrestled with ending it all. "I
remember the distributers in
Canada ran away with £1.8 million,
and the press were all having a go
at me. I was seven and a half stone
overweight, I was arguing with my
husband, the kids weren't happy,
and I just remember saying 'I can't
do this now; we're about to go
bust, I'm about to lose my house,
I'm about to lose everything in my
life that I've ever worked for'.

Whilst time will tell whether Michelle's story will make it onto the big screen,
it seems we may be seeing more of her on the little screen as she's rumoured
to be appearing on Dragons' Den and replace Nick Hewer on The Apprentice.
"At the moment I can't speak about any of that until anything is signed. But,
you know, there has been interest," she says coyly. "I think they are both
great shows and who knows what might happen?"

"I remember opening up the
medicine cabinet about to take
every single pill that was in there,

Michelle Mone's autobiography, My Fight to the Top (Blink Publishing), is
available now. RRP: £18.99.

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