Prestbury-based Stacey Forsey joins the Real Housewives of Cheshire and tells Janet Reeder how she’ll be bringing something else to the table.
As one of the new faces of the hit TV show, The Real Housewives of Cheshire, Stacey Forsey is starting as she means to go on.
Her chosen venue for our meeting isn’t somewhere blingingly obvious like Piccolino or the Bubble Room, but a funky neighbourhood restaurant called Evelyn’s in Manchester’s Northern Quarter.
It does seem to be a bit of a celebrity haunt however, as we spot a couple of Cold Feet actors tête-a-têteing in the corner over something freshly prepared at the see-through kitchen by the fabulously named head chef Byron Moses and his team.
But Stacey is here on a mission - to show that she’s more than just a shouty big hairstyle in heels. This is a woman with something to say - whether she’s talking art or cooking...and that’s exactly what the programme producers wanted when they chose her to join the new series with other newbies Seema Malhotra, founder of the fashion label Forever Unique and model Missé Beqiri, who is married to former United goalie Anders Lindegaard.
All three join existing Real Housewives WAGs Dawn Ward, Leanne Brown and Tanya Bardsley, entrepreneur Ampika Pickston and Lauren Simon for the latest series currently airing on ITVBe.
‘They wanted people to see someone who is not like the other housewives,’ explains Stacey, the Prestbury-dwelling wife of Sports Direct millionaire David Forsey.
‘With me and Seema they were looking to bring more substance to the show. Another dynamic if you like.’
She’d been asked to do the show from the offset (‘but a lot of us had’) and now feels the time and direction of the programme are right for her - although she did have to convince her husband!
‘He’s a very private person with a high profile job but we have a very, very strong marriage,’ says Stacey, mother of Grace, aged 11, and eight-year-old Zack.
‘We sat and talked about it and my husband saw where I was coming from. I have supported him over the past 13 years and now he is supporting me. This is my adventure. It’s a journey I’m making on my own and I don’t know where it will lead.
‘I just don’t know what doors it will open. It’s a show that is seen all over the world in the United States, Australia, so who knows? You only live once.’
Stacey doesn’t look out of place in Evelyn’s, which is all industrial brickwork and hipsters poring over MacBooks. Her dress-down look is designer flares and a leather jacket and she describes her style as edgy.
‘I always take pride in what I wear so fashion is part of my life but it’s cost me an absolute fortune being on the show,’ she confides.
‘I do have some lovely clothes and a very nice lifestyle. I have the shoes and the handbags but my look is all about dark clothes, so I’ve had to go out and buy a more colourful wardrobe.’
She’ll definitely be bringing a more creative element to the show, as she’s recently taken up painting abstracts and intends to have a display of her work and she also takes a real interest in food having been diagnosed with several food intolerances about 18 months ago.
This is one of the reasons we are at Evelyn’s. Although Stacey won’t get preachy about healthy eating, she does feel there will be some opportunity to spread the word in the show and as if to prove how easy it is to eat well, with the help of Byron has whipped up a delicious allergy-busting main course of salmon and courgettes within minutes.
‘I’m allergic to yeast, eggs, dairy and peanuts!’ she exclaims.
‘It was about 18 months ago, I went for a complete health check in London after I started feeling really bad. I had a chest infection but had been prone to bloating and trapped wind. Changing my diet has transformed my life. I am full of energy.
‘At the beginning I missed milk chocolate. Saturday night used to be a treat night - Domino’s pizza, chocolate and popcorn but I’ve switched to dark chocolate which has no dairy in it and I love it.’
Being in a healthier place doesn’t mean she’ll be forsaking the Housewives’s favourite tipple however.
‘I am not supposed to drink wine because of the yeast content,’ she tells me over a less glam cup of decaff coffee.
‘’But I can drink bubbles and gin and tonic, so I drink gin and champagne.’
