Fortune favours the brave and it seems they don’t come much tougher than fiery millionaire Michelle Mone, whose gloves are definitely off in her revealing new tell-all book
Creating a ?50million 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 turned inspirational 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 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, ‘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 these chapters now as they were all still open. I hadn’t moved on from it all. But now I have. It’s an explosive book that tells the whole insight of running a business, the whole 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.” 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’. I remember opening up the medicine cabinet about to take every single pill that was there, but then I phoned my mum and she came running round and she 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 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 favourite 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. Whilst time will tell whether Michelle’s story makes it on to the big screen, it seems we may be seeing more of her on the little screen as she’s rumoured to be appearing in Dragons’ Den and could 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?”
Michelle Mone’s autobiography _My Fight to the Top_ (Blink Publishing) is available now, priced £18.99.
Natalie Denton
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