Pregnant British glamour model wannabe turned ‘escort’ Josie Cunningham has told the Sunday Mirror that she’ll have an abortion after being offered a spot on the reality TV show Big Brother.
Cunningham, who sparked outrage last year after claiming a £4,800 breast enlargement on the National Health Service said that she does not want being pregnant to impede her chances of fame. The mother of two told the Mirror: “I’m finally on the verge of becoming famous and I’m not going to ruin it now.
“An abortion will further my career. This time next year I won’t have a baby. Instead, I’ll be famous, driving a bright pink Range Rover and buying a big house. Nothing will get in my way. I’ve also had loads of other offers to further my career – and I’m not willing to give them up because I’m pregnant.”
She said: “At first I thought thank God it’s a footballer or a doctor and not a Big Issue seller and they have money. Suddenly I was pregnant and I could get free dental work on the NHS, so I got a tooth straightened for cosmetic reasons, and it all seemed great. But then I started to think. I didn’t want to be famous for having a footballer’s baby or for being the girl who had a kid by someone who paid for sex.
“I want to be famous for being me – Josie Cunningham, a glamour model and celebrity in my own right. If I want to do that I need to put my career first.
“I want the attention to be on me, not on who fathered my child.”
Cunningham is 18 weeks pregnant, and her rationale for having the abortion fall outside NHS guidelines and the 1967 Abortion Act which states that terminations may be carried out if continuing the pregnancy would damage a woman’s physical or mental health. As such she is seeking the abortion at a private clinic.
Speaking on how she fell pregnant, she said: “It’s not ideal situation and I wish I had never fallen pregnant. I’m not on the Pill and in December the condom split when I was sleeping with a client.
“Then I had sex with a footballer and didn’t use contraception at all. I’d known him for years and we’d had sex before. I didn’t even think about the morning after pill.”
An online poll for the Mirror showed that 92 percent of respondents would boycott the television programme if she appeared after an abortion.