Billie’s life is unlocked (From Swindon Advertiser)

Billie’s life is unlocked

11:00am Friday 21st July 2006 in News By Tom Morton

YET another book about Swindon starlet Billie has been published.

Billie Piper, by Chris Stevens, has just come out in paperback and promises to unlock "the rollercoaster life of Britain's hottest star".

It is the third book about Billie to have been announced in recent months.

An autobiography was announced in May, for which Billie received a six-figure advance.

There is also a forthcoming tome by author Sean Smith, who has been to Swindon recently to research Billie's past.

Having broken through as a 15-year-old popstar in 1998, Billie's stock is high again after her successful appearances as Rose Tyler in Doctor Who.

The new book, which used back issues of the Advertiser in its research, charts Billie's life, starting from when she was born at the Princess Margaret Hospital and covering her childhood in West Swindon.

She had in fact been named Leian produced Lee-Ann but became Billie after her dad Paul went to America, heard the name Billie and thought it suited his newborn daughter better.

The book traces her pop career, with many glowing, if unnamed, tributes from people there at the time who described her in terms such as "she was so lovely, and such a sweet girl".

But it also makes clear that having been catapulted to fame, Billie found herself on her own.

After number one singles, Mr Stevens writes that: "None of her friends in Swindon could relate to what was happening in her life and most of her friends from stage school were simply envious."

It also outlines the time in the late 1990s when a party lifestyle took its toll, and her bounce back with the success of Doctor Who.

As previously reported, Billie revealed recently that she struggled with suicidal thoughts in the early days. But she has now put them firmly behind her.

Quoted recently, she said: "I'm really happy with my life at the moment. I can't imagine things getting better than they are right now."