From Playboy mansion to council house in the Midlands: Former model who earned £40k a shoot now lives on £50 benefits a week
Last updated at 7:11 PM on 1st August 2011
The former page three girl enjoyed sipping cocktails in the spa bath at the Playboy Mansion and rubbing shoulders with the likes of Joan Collins and Michael Caine.
Last year's model: Tracy Harrison, 46, enjoyed a glamorous existence earning £40,000 a day as a Playboy model - but now lives in a council house surviving on £50 a week in benefits
She went on to enjoy the high life and spent 15 years living on a luxury yacht at Monaco in the South of France with a boyfriend after leaving California.
But now she is unemployed and living in the council house she grew up in in Willenhall, West Midlands.
She has sold all her expensive jewellery and collects £50 a week in Jobseekers allowance.
The 46-year-old has hit out following a gruelling four-year quest to find a job since being back in UK - and finding nothing.
Tracy said: 'Since coming home I have sold all my diamonds. Everything has gone and I'm living in the house I was born in.
Big earner: Tracy used to command up to £40,000 for each photoshoot and lived a lavish lifestyle in Beverly Hills
'I've discovered that as soon as employers find about my modelling past they don't want anything to do with me.
'I have tried so hard to get something. I am not disabled. Just because of the career I have had does not mean you can dismiss me. I am getting very angry because everybody seems to be getting jobs and I don't seem to be getting anything.
'Finding a job is really tough because as soon as you apply for something, you discover the vacancy has already been filled.'
She vowed that if someone gives her a job she would give half her wages to charity. 'I am not bothered if it is a chip shop, cleaning job, whatever,' she said.
Long hunt: Tracy has been looking for work for four years since returning to the UK and has found nothing, forcing her to life on State handouts
'I don't need much money to live on and I'm so bored being in the house not doing anything. There is no work out there.
'I do a lot of work for charity and I'm sure there must be someone out there that can employ me.
'I have still got to pay the mortgage. I try to keep my chin up.'
Tracy got her foot in the door of Playboy after she saved up enough money to go visit a friend in Beverly Hills.
She knew a friend who worked in the film industry, who helped her get in with the American giant.
'I went from having to catch three buses to get to my job in Perry Barr, Birmingham,to living in a city where no-one walks - everyone has a car in Beverly Hills,' Tracy added.
Following her first photoshoot the work started flowing in, she says.
She spent nearly two years in Beverly Hills, bumping into Barry Manilow every Friday morning in his favourite cafe and spotting stars such as Michael Caine, Joan Collins, Roger Moore and Jackie Collins out for dinner together.
'The four of them all walked towards me in a restaurant and I was so bowled over I said 'hello',' laughed Tracy. 'Both Michael Caine and Roger Moore stopped and asked if I was from England - they were so lovely.'
When she first returned to the UK four years ago after her relationship ended, she found work as a page three girl, earning £200 per photo.
When that dried up she worked for Guess UK in London. But when that came to an end too, she arrived back in Willenhall to try and find a job.
'I went back home because I missed my parents Fred and Claire, who have both passed away now,' says Tracy.
'They were both very supportive of my career and were just pleased that I was happy.
'I always said that when I became a model it felt like I had fallen into a film star's life - it is sad, but now I'm paying the price for all that glamour and excitement.'
Recalling her time in the spotlight alongside the rich and famous, Tracy continued: 'I loved it. But if I had my time again I wish I had done a little of the modelling but also put my interests into another area.
'But I love my home, I love my roots and I love the local neighbourhood.'
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2021195/Playboy-model-Tracy-Harrison-earned-40k-day-lives-council-house.html#ixzz1ToXSUUic
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