Women in their 40s and 50s are making a bigger impact than ever. Glamorous stars like Demi Moore, Cindy Crawford and Kim Cattrall are proof that once we hit the big 4-0, our lives aren’t over - in fact for some of us, they’ve only just begun.

New TV series Kitchen Sink to Catwalk aims to make the most of the opportunities open to 40+ women, by tracking down some of the most gorgeous and glamorous women in the country and making them models.

Here we talk to four of the fab finalists to hear how the show helped boost their confidence and made them realise there’s so much more still to come..

I wish I’d felt this good in my 20s

Angie Drake, 52, from Petersfield, Hampshire

“I’ve spent my life worrying what people think of me and being afraid to go out and get what I want. I was adopted as a little girl and after a bad relationship with the family who brought me up and years of being told I was stupid and useless, my self-esteem has been rock bottom my whole life.

I have three gorgeous children and I run my own hair salon so on the surface people probably thought I was quite a confident woman. But it wasn’t until I fell in love with my partner Chris 14 years ago that I began to feel secure in myself, and confident about my looks and what I could achieve.

I put myself forward for the show because people have always said I was an attractive woman. I’m 5ft 9ins tall so I’ve got the height that models need and I felt like I’d missed my chance when I was younger. I’d never have been brave enough to go for it back then.

And although I’m not stick thin, I’m a healthy size 12 with plenty of curves, I thought this was a great chance to show people this is what real women are like. I’m in my 50s, I’m not a little waif of a girl, and I still look good.

I feel more confident now than I ever did, so the idea that women should put all their ambitions aside when they hit 40 and disappear into the background makes me really angry. I’m so glad I’ve had this experience, but it’s brought a few feelings up that I hadn’t thought about for a while.

I feel a bit sorry for my young self. I wish I’d had all this confidence and drive when I was in my 20s and 30s. My only regret is that I wasted some of my potential because my self-esteem was so low. But you can’t think of things like that, so I’m determined to make the most of my 50s, 60s and 70s. I have so much to look forward to, and as an attractive, intelligent woman who knows what I’ll do?”

What a fantastic generation we are

Sam Hughes, 44, from Ewell, Surrey

“For the past 15 years I’ve worked as a radio presenter for a big commercial station, but in June last year, I lost my job. As a single mum with a grown up son living at home, that changed things for me massively. For the first time in years I was worried about paying the rent.

It was really depressing, and I didn’t have the luxury of a lovely husband to look after me while I looked for work. My mum was a great emotional support for me through that time.

Then one day she spotted an ad for the show and tentatively suggested that I give it a go. I thought, ‘Well things can’t get any worse’. I was 44, single and unemployed. I had nothing to lose and I thought I’d actually be quite good at it - I’ve always thought I was quite attractive, I’m a size 10 and I have the height at 5ft 8ins.

It also happened it was around the time there was lots of stuff in the news about ageism against women and I thought ‘I’m not having this’. If we’re not careful all us over-40 women are going to be booted out and expected to fade into the background - look at the whole Arlene Phillips fiasco.

For the last few years I was even lying to people about my age - it’s ridiculous but I somehow felt I had to. But doing the show and meeting these other fabulous women makes me much more confident.

Look at other 40-something women like Kylie and Jennifer Aniston. We’re actually a fantastic generation of women so we’ve got to stand up, look as gorgeous as we like without worrying about other people and get on with what we want to do.”

Jazmine Labana, 44, from Ealing, London

“I have moved around a lot in my life moving from India to New York before finally settling in London. Through all of this, people did suggest I try modelling - I’ve always been quite slim and at 5ft 10ins tall I considered it very briefly. I did one modelling job when I was 26, but I didn’t like it so my modelling career was short lived.

Since then I’ve worked in marketing and have moved from one thing to another to keep everyone around me happy. I’ve never been one to take risks or be particularly ambitious. I would try to keep my family and the men in my life happy, before pursuing what I really wanted.

But I’ve got to the stage where I feel I need to do my own thing and grab every opportunity I see. I’m more confident about what I can do than I’ve ever been, so I won’t waste any of my chances.

The experience of being in the show, and finally enjoying the fun that can come from modelling has been fantastic. It’s just such a great thing that it coincided with this moment in my life where I decided to go for everything I wanted.

I’m not married and have no children so I have nothing to lose. I am happier than ever and I have so many ambitions I still intend to fulfill. I am an artist and have never had the confidence to put my work out there, but after this experience I know the world is still full of opportunities for women like me and I’m going to do my best to pursue this.

I don’t want to be a professional model, I just wanted to show myself and other women my age that we’re not washed up and we can still do a lot with our lives.”

I'm not stick thin

Christine Reed, 47, from Warrington, Cheshire

“I’ve been married twice and have two kids - a son who’s 23 and a 16-year-old daughter. I can’t believe I’ve actually come through this whole process because for years I’ve felt like the most ordinary, average woman.

Two failed marriages behind me, and a few of years of being really down on myself didn’t set me up for this. At one stage I weighed 13st and was desperately unhappy about my body.

But thankfully I managed to lose three stone and I’ve kept it off. As a result of that I opened my own slimming clinic, and I’ve earned a living from that ever since. I suppose I’ve been quite strict about maintaining my figure for the past few years, so even though I’m not stick thin, at 5ft 8ins tall I’m pretty toned.

I’m surprised I got so far in the competition because I’ve never thought I was overly attractive. That’s the thing with women as we get older, so many of us become less and less confident.

I’ve always said I would go for every kind of surgery if I had the money - lipo, a nose job, facelift - everything. Because in this country I think we’re under a lot of pressure as we get older. But this process has made me think perhaps I wouldn’t, look at the other girls, they’re absolutely gorgeous and they haven’t gone under the knife. Maybe we don’t need to after all. We’re all over 40 - over the hill if you were to believe some people - but we’re having the time of our lives.”

FASHION CREDITS

Christine Reed wears Animal print dress, £215, Gerard Darel @ House of Fraser Disco ball necklace, £14, Freedom @ Topshop Black shoes, £35, Next

Jazmine Labana – Wears Cream Crotchet dress, £35, Dorothy Perkins Gold necklace, £12, New Look Pink suede shoes, £32, Next

Angela Drake- Wears Electric blue beaded dress, £160, Monsoon Black suede shoes, £45, TK Maxx

Samatha Hughes - Wears Black and grey stripe dress, £18, Warehouse Black sequin jacket, £55, TK Maxx Grey studd shoesboots, £25, New Look

Source: Daily Mirror