Inside the life of Changing Rooms star Carol Smillie: Why she gave up showbiz to surprising new career

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Carol Smillie's career has spanned over decades, firstly as a model before leaping into television.The Glasgow-born presenter was the face of primetime TV in the early 1990s and became a household name when she was the hostess on STV's Wheel of Fortune.She went on to secure the role as presenter on the hit BBC One show Changing Rooms.The former model fronted the show alongside designers including Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen and Linda Barker until the untimely end in 2003 - disappointing millions of viewers across the country.The Scot went on to present the National Lottery, as well as introducing her very own show - Smillie's People, where she interviewed celebrities including Ken Dodd and Martin Clunes.Before making it in the world of television, the now 62-year-old started her career as a model.She joined an agency called Best Modelling Agency - however, at 5ft 5in she was too short to be a catwalk model and booked shoots and promotions instead.In 2012, the star decided her time on TV had come to an end, launching her own brand called Pretty Clever Pants, which provided women with leakproof underwear.Touching on her underwear venture, she wrote on her website: "It was an incredible rollercoaster of discovery and learning, pushing me to do things I never thought I could and went from a simple idea (aren’t all the best ones?) to a multi award winning brand of smart underwear with a secret waterproof panel, for life's little leaks, giving confidence to women all over the world, and stocked in the UK's major high street stores like Boots, John Lewis, QVC and Debenhams."Six years later, I sold the business to TV shopping channel High St TV. "Carol then had a surprising change of heart, ditching the showbiz world for good and