Ashley JensenUgly Betty star Ashley Jensen has said she found it difficult to deal with all the trappings of fame when she first moved to Los Angeles.

After her success in Extras led to her role in the fashion series, she had to get a publicist to deal with all the media interest in her: “I couldn’t even say the word out loud, it seemed so pretentious. Instead, I’d rather sheepishly refer to her as my “publisher”.’

She describes her appearance at the Golden Globes last year - when the show picked up the ‘Best Television Series - Musical or Comedy’ award and co-star America Ferrera picked up one of the ‘Best Actress’ awards - as her “first big outing”: “for the first time I had an entourage. There were all these stylists fawning and fussing around me, and all I had to do was stand there while they put me in a stunning Junko Yoshioka dress and a pair of towering Jimmy Choos.”

“I felt like Cinderella going to the ball. It was so surreal.”

She added that her “publisher” also introduced her to the concept of the mani-pedi: “My publicist told me I should have one. I was like: ‘What’s that?’ She said it was a manicure and pedicure, so I was like: ‘No, you’re OK, I’ll just slap a bit of nail polish on.’”

“But then I realised it wasn’t a suggestion, it was a statement - ‘You will have one’ - but I enjoyed every minute.”

“I know people see me as a newcomer, but I’ve been working hard for the last 16 years, so it’s good to enjoy these things a bit. A manicure forces me to sit still for an hour and take a wee moment.”

“Now I’ve reached the point where I think you’ve just got to enter into the Hollywood lifestyle wholeheartedly. I may as well embrace everything that it has to offer.”

“Although I do find it funny that I’ve got to 38 and suddenly I’m not able to dress myself or do my own hair and make-up. But I loved having someone tell me what to wear. Yeah, I’ve got a stylist, a stylist’s assistant, a make-up artist and a publicist. Why not?’

But that’s not to say she’s going to jump on the Hollywood bandwagon when it comes to dieting and Botox: “I was quite happy with my face before I got here. Like most women, I have good days and bad days when I look in the mirror and think: ‘Bloody hell, I look like I’ve been pulled out the oven too early!’”

“But life’s too short to worry about injecting botulism into your face to get rid of a tiny line because you’ve laughed too much. To me, that’s a bit warped.”

“Women have always had a difficult relationship with their bodies, dating back to the Victorian era when they had their ribs removed to look thinner.”

“Now we starve ourselves to look thin, but I prefer a woman’s body to look strong, with muscles and thighs that look like they could run. I wish more women could understand that. I think we can be our own worst enemy.”

“I’ve never really struggled with my body image. I’ve never been bulimic or anorexic. I always knew I was never the prettiest or ugliest girl in the room.”

“I think I look all right for my age. I’m happy with my package. I’m short and I’ve always had cheeks, but I can honestly say that I’m pretty happy with what I’ve got. I think laughter lines are to be embraced. You’re born with the face you’re born with, and you end up with the face you deserve. We get old, it’s part of life.”