Bradford's Kimberley Walsh 'too busy to get wed' (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

Girls Aloud star on the double-edged sword of her ‘hard graft’ ethic

7:00am Thursday 3rd January 2013 in News By Chris Tate, T&A Reporter

Bradford’s Kimberley Walsh claims her Yorkshire-bred attitude towards hard work is the secret of her success – although it is standing in the way of her tying the knot!

The Strictly Come Dancing star is still in no rush to walk down the aisle, despite having dated boyfriend Justin Scott for nine years.

And she partly blames the delay on her love of hard graft.

“I love a challenge. If there’s something where I’m like, ‘I don’t know if I can do that,’ I’ll do it – just to prove I can. What can I say? I’m a glutton for punishment. I’m a bit psycho like that,” Kimberley said in an interview with Cosmopolitan magazine.

“Growing up, we didn’t really have any money, and I remember discovering that you could work and earn money yourself. I’d do double shifts at my waitressing job – it was worth it for the money.

“Hard work has got me where I am. If I didn’t have that ambition I wouldn’t have achieved what I have.

“I get a lot of tweets and letters from fans saying that seeing me working hard inspires them to do the same. I love that. I want them to feel that if I managed it, they can too.”

However, she is confident that she and Justin will marry in the future – when she’s not too busy!

“I have divorced parents, so you try to be really sensible and not do it until the time is really right, and then it just goes on and on, and then you don’t have the time!

“But eventually we will.”

And having a family is also part of her future plans: “I want to settle down and have a family, which is why I’m fulfilling all of my dreams and selfish ambitions right now.

“I could definitely have a baby as part of Girls Aloud.

“The girls would support me because, as much as we put the group first, family is more important than any job.

“I’m not there yet, though.”

Renowned for her curves as much as her dance moves, the Girls Aloud star said she is astonished her bottom even has its own Twitter page “It’s got a life of its own! Something about my bum was trending on Twitter recently and I was like, ‘Oh, my god, you lot are crazy!” the 30-year-old singer said about her thousands of followers.

In the interview, Kimberley said she struggles to accept she is one of the sexiest women in showbiz and is more interested in feeling fit and happy.

“I find it hard to talk about myself being sexy, but I guess my shape is more womanly than the model look, and that’s sexier.

“I go with it; that’s how I am! But it’s not like putting on a dress suddenly makes you feel sexy.

“You need to feel good about yourself first. And I do – physically I’m really fit, and I’m really happy.”

Girls Aloud have reformed to celebrate ten years since they shot to fame, and discussing that reunion, Kimberley said she’s still the cool, calm and collected member of the group.

“We’ve already fallen back into the same patterns; it’s weird.

“Sarah’s not really a party animal anymore so that’s changed, but I still fulfil the same role.

“On our first performance everyone was getting really nervous and I was thinking, ‘Right, okay, let’s try to calm this situation down.’ “Cheryl’s quite motherly too, while Nicola and Nadine are the young ones.

“We’re still protective of them even though they’re women now!”

• The full interview appears in the February issue of Cosmopolitan, which is on sale from today. It is also available as a digital edition.