I was a Playboy model who partied with Hugh Hefner & got paid to flash builders – but I quit it all to work as a cleaner
HANGING OUT at the Playboy Mansion, rubbing shoulders with A-list movie stars and being flown out to Ibiza to party were all part of Page 3 model Verena Twigg’s 9-5.
“I still have to pinch myself today,” she says, speaking exclusively to Fabulous.
“I got paid handsomely for getting my boobs out. It was all so glamorous, it was so much fun having someone else do my hair and make-up.
“Sometimes I wore beautiful skimpy clothes and sometimes I wore nothing at all – and it was work.”
Today Verena, 45, runs a successful cleaning business in her hometown in the northwest of England.
“I’ve not modelled for 10 years and I’m away from the spotlight. I have a very ordinary life now.
“Before I used to be out at parties all the time, now I prefer to spend my spare time in nature and walking my dog.
“Fans will be shocked but my life is the complete opposite to my past as a Page 3 girl.
“It took a while to get used to being the person I now am. While I loved my old life I love this one too.
“At first I thought there was something wrong with me. But then I just accepted that we change.
“I find peace and quiet more fun than glitz and glamour.”
Verena was constantly snapped and papped throughout her 20s and early 30s. She made the move into the world of glamour after starting out as a fashion model.
“The fashion model world can be bitchy and they always criticise your weight,” she admits.
“I was a size 8 and it suited me. I had a few curves and I was a little bit voluptuous but fashion bookers and designers wanted me to be thinner for jobs.
“The waif vibe was very much in. I just said no because it doesn’t sit right with me.”
It was then that Verena turned to underwear modelling and found her calling.
I got paid handsomely for getting my boobs out
Verena Twigg
She says: “I did do some photographic work with my boobs au naturel but it was when I got implants I really felt like me.”
At 21 Verena went under the knife going from a 34AA to a 34C cup.
“Around the same time I entered a glamour model competition and I came third,” she says.
“Things started from there. I loved it and felt at home in glamour.
“I even did a photoshoot with Page 3 legendary photographer Jenny Savage. She told me I looked like Samantha Fox which was a massive complement.
“Modelling topless and posing in underwear day-in, day-out throughout my 20s were honestly the best years of my life – I can’t explain why but I loved it.
“I know it’s frowned on today but back then it was such a liberating experience.
“It’s a real shame that Page 3 doesn’t exist – it gave so many women like me an opportunity to make something of themselves and see the world too.”
I’ve not modelled for 10 years and I’m away from the spotlight. I have a very ordinary life now
Verena Twigg
Many in Verena’s hometown weren’t pleased about her career and Verena says she was “judged” constantly.
“I ignored them and continued to model following my mum’s motto ‘live for today because tomorrow might never come’,” Verena says.
“She wanted me to be a free spirit and that’s how I have lived my life.”
Verena has been married once but never had kids – firmly believing the two don’t mix.
“It would have been a different life and a different world for me if I had become a mum,” she claims.
It’s why Verena reckons she was only too happy to be paid to appear topless in public with other models and raise male morale.
“We were regularly booked to go to army barracks to say hello to the boys,” she recalls.
“I never felt uncomfortable or intimidated when I was getting my boobs out at Christmas and signing calendars. We’d go to truck stops, building sites – anywhere there were lots of men together.
“Although I know you can’t do these things today – it was all part of the fun.”
With her high earnings Verena underwent a second boob job increasing her chest to a 34F.
She was even able to buy her first home in 2006 – which she rents out today.
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“I invested wisely. I was making loads of money from the shoots. It was a full-time career back then,” she says.
Yet Verena reckons the highlight for her was going to Los Angeles and working at the Playboy Mansion.
She says: “One of my best friends was one of the Playboy Bunnies.
“Thanks to her waving my picture under the right noses I got accepted as one of the famous painted ladies. I did it three times.
“It was brilliant being there for a Super Bowl party and a Halloween do. There were loads of celebs. I had my picture taken with Vernon Troy from the Austin Powers movies.
“I even got to go to an after-party Sunday dinner in the house with him and his family. It was funny because there were tour buses driving past at the same time.
“I can’t actually pick one memorable moment while I was topless modelling.
“I was just living my best life ever – I went all over the world including Marbella, Ibiza, Las Vegas, St. Lucia, San Francisco, Perú.
“In the UK I loved going to different nightclubs getting into the VIP areas.”
While I’d love to go to Los Angeles again for now I’m really happy with my life as a cleaner and being at home with my man – that’s my Chihuahua Ralphie
Verena Twigg
When Verena turned 30 she launched her own model agency and began the transition from model to agent.
“It didn’t get to a stage where anyone said, ‘get your boobs in and grow up!’,” she says.
“Things just evolved that way even though I still did a bit of modelling at 34 and 35.
“I got the message when a client said just send the girls we don’t need you.
“There were lots of younger models appearing on the scene. Social media was taking off – and I just knew it was the right moment to stop.”
Over the last decade Verena has turned her hand at managing Air BnBs and last year launched her own cleaning business but says she still gets recognised.
“I get asked for my autograph in pubs and supermarkets even today,” Verena says.
“Recently a young guy came up to me and said, ‘oh my God it’s you!’
“He probably had my picture on his wall as a teenager.”
Verena, who is single, has no regrets about her former career and admits she wishes glamour modelling was still like it was in her heyday.
“I’m really happy today but it’s sad that women can’t just be naked, wild and free,” she admits.
“Now I don’t keep across the industry at all. But I am happy for women who are following their dreams and making money stripping off.
“While I’d love to go to Los Angeles again for now I’m really happy with my life as a cleaner and being at home with my man – that’s my Chihuahua Ralphie.”
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