Krystal Hipwell (née Forscutt) was just 19 when she was experienced national fame thanks to a stint on what was then the juggernaut Big Brother.
One highly-publicised boob job and more than 20 men’s mag covers later, Hipwell carved quite a career for herself as a model in her time post reality-TV.
However, now 31, the pregnant mum-of-one says her time on the show and her subsequent modelling career is all a “distant memory.”
“Becoming a mother has taught me so much, I’ve become a far more patient person and it’s definitely put a lot into perspective about what I want in my life and what I want for my family,” she told the Morning Show on Tuesday morning.
“It almost seems like another person when I look back. I was obviously so young – I was 19 at the time – and I look back and almost feel detached from it, like it didn’t really happen because so much has changed.”
Today, Hipwell runs a lifestyle blog that includes stories of parenting and health and fitness advice. Most recently, she shared her experience having two miscarriages in her attempts to fall pregnant with her second child.
“I unfortunately had two miscarriages in the space of seven months when we were trying for our second, and I found at first it to be a really lonely process with the healing,” she told the show, adding her decision to speak publicly was a soothing and helpful experience.
Hipwell is also married to Neil Hipwell, who runs his own building company. She told the program he took her to church on their second date, and since then, she “hasn’t looked back.”
“I never grew up in a Christian community, but when I met my husband, we actually went to church on our second date. So yeah, big call by him. He sort of threw me in the deep end so to speak.
“I went along at first for the music, and now it’s about so much more than that. It’s given me so much more perspective and so much more purpose in my life and it’s crazy, the impact it’s had, becoming a Christian.”
The 31-year-old said she doesn’t even own any of her men’s magazines anymore.
“It was kind of a cleansing process. The moment I decided I didn’t want anything to do with it, I got every magazine I’ve ever been on and I just threw it in the bin.
“I didn’t want to hold onto these things, I am a different person now than I was then. Not that I have regrets or anything, I just felt like I was carrying around a big box of things that don’t relate to who I am now.”