Tess Daly might be better known as one half of the presenting duo on Strictly Come Dancing but she has been in the spotlight since she was 17 years old.
The television presenter, who's married to Vernon Kay, started her showbiz career as a model, after being scouted outside a McDonald's restaurant in Manchester while waiting for her sister. However back then she wasn't officially known as Tess Daly.
It turns out Tess isn't actually the 51-year-old's real name... it's her stage name. In 1969 she was born and named Helen Elizabeth Daly by her parents Vivian and Sylvia. The Strictly Come Dancing co-host has been going by Tess since she started modelling, though it's not entirely clear why she chose this particular name.
Explaining she had not legally changed her name for fear of 'disrespecting her parents', the presenter said when she started her career as a model at the age of 17, there was already someone with the name ‘Helen Davies’ at the agency, so she was told to change ditch 'Helen Daly' because it was deemed too similar.
The seasoned host was given the name Tess because her agent at the time was “obsessed” with the actress Nastassja Kinski, who starred in a film back in 1979 called Tess. “So Tess it was," Tess said. "I was gullible and impressionable. Mind you, two weeks later I was in Japan then travelled the world. Paris, Milan, New York,” she explained, adding that her agent thought she looked just like German actress Nastassja.
Opening up about the only person who still calls her Helen, the presenter told The Weekend: “My mum’s really the only person who still calls me Helen, and that’s not often. She tends to call me ‘love’, so when she does say ‘Helen’ it can take me a while to respond." The presenter continued: "I’ve never changed it by deed poll or anything because I think it would be disrespectful to my parents."
Even though the Tess' husband, Vernon, doesn’t call her Helen, the presenter married the TV host under her real name when they exchanged vows in 2003. Vernon, who is also a former model who become famous on T4 and T4 On The Beach for Channel 4, married Tess in Bolton, his home city, on September 12, 2003. The pair have two children aged 19 and 14, called Phoebe and Amber.
The proud parents shared a rare snap of their eldest daughter, Phoebe, this summer as she got her A level results. Tess posted the sweet photo on social media, as she and hubby Vernon treated the teenager to a fancy night out. Posing underneath an extravagant floral ceiling at the Ivy Asia in Manchester’s Spinningfields, the doting mum and dad beamed with pride as they raised a glass for the memorable milestone. The family also enjoyed a trip to California in August as Tess shared several highlights from their sun-kissed holiday, including a romantic bike ride with Vernon.
