Leslie Ash draws curtain on 'traumatic year'

Actress Leslie Ash said today she is ready to draw the curtain on a “traumatic year” as she began promoting a lingerie range.

The Men Behaving Badly star is fronting the new Playtex Just My Style campaign as she marks a fresh beginning and puts the troubles of recent months behind her.

She was admitted to hospital with a collapsed lung and broken rib in April but she denied claims of domestic violence and said her injuries occurred during a bout of “energetic sex” with her husband Lee Chapman.

She subsequently contracted the life-threatening MSSA bug from which she is still not fully recovered.

Today, the 44-year-old said she hoped the interview she did with her ex-footballer husband on ITV’s Tonight With Trevor McDonald on Monday night - during which she insisted he was “not a wife-beater” – would put an end to the rumours she suffers a violent marriage and that people will instead focus on her modelling work.

She said: “I am sure you are all aware that it has been a traumatic year for me, but I hope that it has now finally drawn to a close with the Trevor McDonald interview and that we can all move on.

“I am very much looking forward to the future and what better way to celebrate a new start than with these wonderful photographs.

“It’s really good to be back.”

Dressed in a modest black suit jacket and long skirt, but with a red lace Playtex bra peeping out from underneath, she happily smiled and posed for photographers beneath giant pictures of her modelling the underwear range in central London.

She added: “I love gorgeous lingerie and like to show off my glamorous side. I chose this range because it is so right for a woman like me that wants to look good and feel really feminine. I love the way I look in these pictures – sexy and confident.”

Playtex said Ms Ash’s recent troubles were part of the reason they chose her.

Therese Gilligan, marketing manager, said: “Leslie is absolutely thrilled to be back fronting the Playtex Just My Style campaign, looking and feeling so fantastic and showing the world just how far she has come in recent months.

“On the one hand, she is an aspirational, beautiful and confident celebrity with a hugely successful acting career. On the other hand, as a mum who has been through difficult times she is very accessible and easy for women across the UK to identify with.”

The campaign will run until Christmas this year and the range is now available in 1,000 stores including Debenhams, House of Fraser, Allders and Contessa.