Photo-shoot the Messenger? It would have cost you £120,000

FORMER model Melinda Messenger earned £120,000 in one day doing a phone company advert. She now earns a fraction of what she used to receive in the late 1990s at the height of her fame. But she appreciates what she has more nowadays. The 49-year-old happily retrained as a psychotherapist and lives in Berkshire, England, with children Morgan, 20, Flynn, 18 and Evie, 17.

What did your parents teach you about money?

That it was in short supply. It was a stressful message to be given at a young age and, over the years, I’ve had to work to change the way I see money.

My dad, who was a manager at WH Smith, retired early for health reasons. My mother was a stay-athome mum who later became a secretary. My parents divorced when I was five. Money was tight for Mum.

There were four of us children and I think she only had about £40 a week to live on. We had free school meals and there were winters when she couldn’t afford to buy us coats.

She would literally count every penny she had and there were times she skipped meals because she didn’t have enough money.

Did you ever go hungry?

I don’t remember going hungry. Mum was quite creative with meals, but I knew I could only eat what I was given – I couldn’t just go to the fridge and make myself a snack.

And if I ever got a new pair of shoes or something else new to wear, it would feel like Christmas. It made me want to earn money as an adult. At the time, I wasn’t fully aware of how much that was a driving force for me. There was a lot of anxiety and fear in the house around money and I learned to equate money with freedom, safety and feeling secure.

Have you ever struggled to make ends meet?

Yes, absolutely. In 2010, I lost everything and went through a difficult and stressful period when I wondered how I was going to make ends meet. I had invested in a business I knew nothing about but friends and family had wanted to set up.

I acted as a guarantor and naively kept backing it until I ran out of money. It got liquidated and I lost around £250,000. That was a tough but important lesson. I experienced a financial crisis and at one point my house was about to be repossessed. I was having sleepless nights and crying pretty much every day.

I had to work six days a week and all the hours there were to pull through. It lasted two years. Now, I look back and don’t know how I coped.

Have you ever been paid silly money?

Yes. When I became famous in 1997 I got paid ridiculous amounts for photo-calls while endorsing products. All I had to do was stand around for an hour being photographed and I’d be paid £20,000. The silliest amount of money I ever earned was when I did an advert for a phone company. It was one day’s work – and I got £120,000. The phenomenal amounts blew my mind. I went from being a customer services manager earning £22,000 a year to being able to earn that much in an hour. I turned down millions of pounds of work, too, either because I couldn’t accept it or it didn’t feel right.

What was the best year of your financial life?

It was 2008. I probably earned around £400,000 that year. There was one particular TV job where I was paid £10,000 a day.

The most expensive thing you bought for fun?

An antique baby grand piano for £8,000 in 2005. It had been my childhood dream to have my own piano. But I sold it a year later. I felt so guilty about buying it because I never spent money on myself. I couldn’t justify it. Now I’ve got a tiny Casio keyboard that cost £200.

What is your biggest money mistake?

Not valuing enough the money I was able to earn, and therefore giving it away far too easily. But I’ve learned from my mistakes. I retrained as a psychotherapist and now earn a tiny fraction of what I used to get paid. But I feel appreciative of what I do have.

The best money decision you have made?

Investing in property. I bought my first house at the age of 21 and I’m now on my 15th or 16th house purchase. I bought some for members of my family, others I renovated and sold. Every time I did this, I made a good profit.

Do you save into a pension?

No. I put some money into a pension in 2008, but that was a one-off. I think it’s better to invest in bricks and mortar... because with property you’ve got a tangible, physical asset. You can rent it out, or sell and cash it in. I get nervous about electronic pots of money I cannot control.