Jordan: NoW planned to give the celebrity model a "makeunder"
Showbiz weekly Now was forced to pull an exclusive with celebrity pin-up Jordan at the last minute after fears that it would clash with a spread in the Daily Star.
The fashion shoot, due to appear in next week’s issue of Now, was meant to take place last week. But the magazine received a call from Jordan’s agent at 6.20pm the night before, saying the shoot would have to be cancelled.
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They were told that Express News-papers boss Richard Desmond thought it would interfere with her contract with the Daily Star. Desmond is also the owner of Now’s celebrity rival OK! Jane Ennis, the editor of Now, said the piece would have amounted to two spreads which would also have been plugged on the cover.
The shoot was set up as a ‘make-under’ and was intended to cast Jordan in a totally new light, featuring her with delicate make-up, classic clothes and straight hair. "We were going to turn her into a classy-looking babe," Ennis said.
Ennis insisted it was not a question of Jordan being uneasy with the new look, it was simply down to her contractual obligation to the Daily Star. "The studio, photographer and stylist were all booked, the clothes were in and I left the office thinking it was going ahead," she told Press Gazette. "Then I got a call saying her agent had rung and that the shoot was cancelled ‘forever’." Now has replaced Jordan with Nell McAndrew, the celebrity model behind Tomb Raider star Lara Croft. "It was an inconvenience," Ennis said. "It just tickled me because I don’t think it would have affected her loyal following in the Star or harm the story. You win some, lose some."
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Ennis, who refuses to sign any contractual agreement with celebrities, said she had no intention of changing the policy.
"Things like that happen all the time. There is nothing you can do about it. You can run a magazine by signing contracts but celebrities then get copy approval and picture approval and it’s a different proposition," she said.
Despite battling for stories with celebrity rivals Heat, Hello! and OK!, Now reported a 20 per cent increase in the latest ABCs with sales of 475,571.
By Ruth Addicott
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