JEAN JOHANSSON REDUCED TO TEARS

A Place In The Sun presenter Jean Johansson says  she has been reduced to tears after being told she was ‘not black enough, not white enough and too fat’ for jobs in previous years.

The telly talents also revealed she was recently knocked back by the UKs biggest talent agent.

Jean, who also hosts Channel 4’s Key To  Fortune, admitted that rejection is something she has had it deal with throughout her life and says it still hurts.

Port Glasgow born Jean, who is married to ex Rangers and Charlton Athletic footballer and coach Jonatan, said: “Rejection is something I've always had to deal with since being a model, and in those days it was like, ‘not tall enough, not white enough, not black enough, too fat, too small, too thick’, and they just told you, and you left the room with your book and went to the next casting. I used to stand outside the room and cry at 15 and 16, but by 17 and 18, it's like, ‘Okay, next’. So I'm very, very thick skinned now. I learned that in a harsh way, but I'm so grateful for it.”

Jean who spoke about her life on podcast H1THR admitted she still gets regular knockbacks and give herself permission to grieve over them.

She said: “There was an agent that I had coveted for years and years and years, and I finally got a meeting with them, the biggest sort of talent agent in London. And I went and met them, and thought the meeting went really well, and thought these are the ones that are really going to take me to that household name, that next level. And they just passed. It's just an email, ‘Not the right time Jean. You know, we'll come back to you, but you're not for us.”

She added: “There's always ones as well where it's like, Oh, what did I do wrong there? But now I'm not the 15 year old crying outside the casting room anymore. I can sort of go ‘they weren't for me.’ Yeah, it hurts. And I think a big message that I want to give today is that allow yourself that space. You know, when you don't get a job, you're allowed to greet over it. Yeah, you're allowed to phone your friends and bitch, you're allowed to lose sleep that night, then get over it. I hate this, like ‘You're in the wrong space. You're not allowed to grieve. You're not allowed to be upset, like you didn't get it for a reason. It didn't happen because it wasn't meant to, bigger things for you.’

“That's all true, but can I have a couple of days, just to mourn and grieve that agent that I wanted to be with for twenty years.”

KEITH DUFFY GETS EMOTIONAL AT SCOTFEST AS BOYZONE NEAR END

Beverley Lyons
BOYZONE singer Keith Duffy says he’s becoming emotional as the end of the band is in sight - but he’s hoping family and  friends  including the famous sporting Evans brothers lend their support when he plays Scotfest this weekend.
The singer is going to make sure he has a real party in Edinburgh when he plays the Royal Highland Centre In Ingliston on Saturday for the nostalgia fest.
Boyzone will headline the gig while B*witched, Five, East 17 and Liberty X also play Saturday following The Jacksons, Les McKeown’s Bay City Rollers, Five Star and S Club on Friday.
He said: ”Scotland has always been one of my favourite places to gig and Scottish fans are just nuts, not unlike the Irish. They like a swally, as we say, and  know how to have fun.”
“Scotfest is a festival show and will be a great outdoor party. Hopefully we don’t get the typical Scots weather and it remains sunny.”
The Scotfest show is the second last time that Boyzone will perform here - with their last ever Scots gig at the SSE Hydro in January next year.
Keith admits he’s already preparing himself for an emotional time but is hoping his friends and family will give him a sense of perspective on the end of the band.
He said: “It is the end of Boyzone and a conscious decision has been made. It’s  not a decision we’ve taken lightly and we’ve been humming and hawing over the last while about what way we should do it.
We’ve all gone down different paths and have been busy. Brian McFadden and I have been doing very well as a duo and enjoying playing smaller venues. It’s been more like the early days playing theatres and halls and looking into peoples eyes.”
Keith said of the split: “Thankyou and good night is what was decided and we have respected the memory of Stephen Gately.
It feels like one last hurrah after twenty five years and it will be really nostalgic.
I’m emotional. If you spoke to a member of my family they will tell you I am quite sensitive and quite emotional. There will be melancholy and a tear in my eye. I’m still coming to terms with it because it is so final and does need to be so final and so dramatic and for us to believe it and embrace it. It is dramatic and final but it is going to be a great party. The Evans brothers come to all the Boyzone gigs so they are invited to Edinburgh.  They can stand by the side of the stage or if they want to go out front they can do that too.”
“When you look at it, we are all grown men in our forties with grown up kids. Although there will be tears, there are far worse things in life like the loss of Steven and my daughter Mia who has autism graduating from school, so we will get over this. There are always different channels in the entertainment industry. “