"Absolutely Fabulous"

By Dan Wooding

In his latest column, journalist Dan Wooding tells the moving story of Nina Carter Wakeman and how she found God despite an horrendous life as a model and entertainer. For her, up until then, life had not been "Absolutely Fabulous," though a TV series of the same name is said to be partly modeled on her life.

Little did "Naughty Nina" realize that years later, she would be touring British churches revealing all not only about her past life, but also her present, as a follower of her Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

But first, she went to hell and back!

Nina Carter was one of the original "Page Three Girls" in the Sun newspaper in London - you have to be British to understand what that means - and was earning huge daily fees as a top glamour model. Fame and fortune were what the public saw, but real story was that her life had become entangled with drugs, debt, despair and nearly ended in premature death.

Born in Solihull, on the outskirts of Birmingham, England, Penny Mollett - that is her real name - eventually moved with her family to Tuckton, near Christchurch on the South Coast. "Even at this early age, I was becoming a bit of a tearaway," Nina told Derek Green, editor of Britain's Direction magazine in a recent interview. "I remember my parents thinking I was at the Girl Guides, when I was really walking with the boys along the river bank."

Following another move, her father fell while carrying a bag of potatoes and damaged the base of his spine. This caused a form of sclerosis, and he spent much of his time in bed for the next three years. Although he was so ill, he wanted the best for his daughter, and so arranged for her to take Confirmation classes at the local Episcopalian church. "I did not understand much of what was happening", she admits, "most of it went over my head. But somehow I think God hooked onto me then, although it did not mean much to me until many years later."

Her rebellious life continued, but then, at the age of fifteen, something traumatic occurred that she says she will never forget. Continuing her interview with Derek Green, she said that she and her mother were with her father who was very ill. Her mother fainted and her brother carried her out of the room. While they were gone, her father died in her arms. "This changed the course of my life," Nina admits. "I always knew my father wanted me to be special, and I felt I wanted to leave home, and make my own way. On the advice of my Academy teacher, I entered a beauty competition."

Success for her was instant. She was quickly crowned Miss Bournemouth, Miss Southampton and Miss Poole. Then she became embroiled in what eventually became a scandal with a local councilor who offered to sponsor her to enter Miss Great Britain. After a difficult cruise together, Nina became so annoyed with what had occurred, that she went to a store and ordered a number of clothes on his account. "I did not realize," Nina added," that he had alerted the store to this possibility, and as I marched out with the goods, the store detective stopped me."

She spent seven hours in the Bournemouth Police Station; accused of stealing a car the councilor had made available to her, and obtaining the goods, falsely. "The newspapers loved it - most carried headlines about the Beauty Queen and the Councilor."

However, the publicity worked for her good and she was invited to join a modeling agency in London. She changed her name to Nina Carter and was in great demand for the Pirelli Calendars, best swimwear catalogues and TV ads. This was followed by her entering the world of topless modeling and soon she was a household name. Many of the pictures were taken in places like Indonesia, Jamaica and many other exotic locations around the world.

Nina then changed direction in her career and began working for David Bailey, with her pictures appearing in such magazines as "Cosmopolitan," "She," "Vogue," and "Woman's Own." She said, "This was prestigious work, but prestige does not pay the bills. The money dropped to about $25 an hour, and the bills began to mount. I realized that my life was going downhill."

Blonde On Blonde - The 1970'S Answer To The Spice Girls
Just as it seemed hopeless, she was asked if she could sing. Although she really wasn't a world class singer, she said that she could. So she teamed up with another Page Three model, Jilly Johnson, to produce a recording. They called themselves "Blonde on Blonde." The British comedy series, "Absolutely Fabulous," is said to be loosely based on the lives of these two models.

Their recording company sent them to Japan, where they were heralded as stars. They lived it up on the top floor of the Hilton Hotel in Tokyo. "They found themselves staying up most of the night, and trying to work all day," says Derek Green. "They realized that all the others in the same set were on drugs to keep them going. Soon they followed suit.

"Nina quickly found herself spending huge sums to maintain her habit. She lost her apartment and car. She faded to 77 pounds in weight, and then her throat shut, and she nearly choked. An emergency operation led to four months in the hospital."

Said Nina, "I realized that I had to make a break with my old life." She took a live-in job in the country, where she cleaned and exercised a horse. The lady of the house began to trust her to look after her son, and soon Nina's confidence returned. But still, her drug addict friends were constantly hounding her. She battled on to start her own cosmetic's business, leading her into people's homes where she had the opportunity to share her beauty secrets with housewives who felt inadequate and insecure.

Rocked By Rick
Little did Nina realize how her life was to change after receiving a phone call from Rick Wakeman, formerly of YES and arguably the world's greatest rock keyboardist. He invited her to make a backing track. She decided to do it, and Rick liked it. While in London, Rick, who was separated from his second wife, took her to see the musical "Barnum" and they sat and talked until 5:00 AM.

Not long after this, came another call from Rick, inviting Nina to the launch of the recording in Cannes. Rick had a reputation for being a wild man of rock and he had "drunk for England" during that time. As Nina had suffered from drug abuse, he had suffered from alcohol abuse and he recovered miraculously from three heart attacks. Yet somehow they were drawn together and began to fall in love.

Naturally, the tabloid press hounded them with headlines like, "Drug Addict and Alcoholic Romance." Said Nina, "The Press just threw us together." Then, as the press likes also to do, it did all it could to split them up again, with lurid distorted stories and unpleasant photographs. Despite all of this, Jemma was born a perfect baby - the first girl in the Wakeman family for 250 years. So Rick and Nina decided that they wanted to get married, but faced many difficulties finding a minister who would marry them. Eventually, a United Reform Minister agreed to marry them and a huge rock and roll wedding took place.

Among the star-studded group attending, was Robert Powell, who played Jesus in the TV series, "Jesus of Nazareth." When asked if he was with the Bride or Groom, Powell laughed and said, "Season ticket!"

The Christian love and concern of this pastor was the start of their journey back to God. Rick had become a believer as a teenager and was baptized at South Harrow Baptist Church and was also a Sunday School teacher. The minister knew of Rick's upbringing and asked him to write a hymn for a special occasion. Other hymns followed and then, one day, Rick shut himself away for a whole 24 hours. Thus emerged "The Gospels," which has since been added considerably to and was performed last Easter at five Southern California concerts. Rick was now studying the Bible and becoming more and more inspired to use his talent that he says was "on loan from God."

Eventually, they moved from Camberley in Surrey, to the Isle of Man, and started attending the Broadway Baptist Church in Douglas. But then came a major crisis.

"Rick was away, and Nina found herself with just one week to solve a major financial problem," said Derek Green. "She drove to the local golf course, being booked for speeding on the way. When she arrived, she booked a lesson with a trainer. After completely mis-hitting a number of balls the trainer realized there was something very wrong. He stopped and told her how God had completely changed his life. When she got in her car, he got in beside her, put his hand on her head and prayed for her."

Said Nina, "I felt so embarrassed, but he just seemed to know all about me - he prayed so sincerely - and I just went home, and locked the door, took the phone off the hook, and cried and prayed. I said, 'God, I cannot think why you would want to help me. I have abused myself, you can see right through me.' I thought about my Father's death, and my sin, and then thought about my lovely husband and children (they also have a son called Oscar) and home. I prayed and cried and laughed for at least an hour. Then I said, 'God, regarding this problem - please help!'"

Just after this, the phone rang at their home. A person who had owed Rick a lot of money from more than 10 years before was offering to repay it. The need was met. Nina rang the golf coach and went with him to a meeting where she heard someone giving a testimony. She went forward for prayer and said a prayer of commitment to Jesus Christ.

Nina, who is about to start writing a book about her life, devotes much of her time now speaking to women's groups and giving a program about make-up and beauty, at which she talks about the "inner beauty" of her Christian faith.

"I just find God's love so overwhelming," she said. "If I ever move away from Him, He always draws me back. Although there are so many millions of us, He can reach out to use as individuals. If we read the Bible we will find the right route."

By the way, Rick and Nina Wakeman are hosting a trip to Israel from May 3-10, 1998. Details in North America from Steven Gureghian at George's International Tours, phone: (800) 566 7499 or in the UK from Worldwide Christian Travel at: (0117) 973 1840.

dan wooding (assistcomm@cs.com; www.assistnews.net) is an award winning British journalist now living in Southern California with his wife Norma. He is the founder and international director of ASSIST (Aid to Special Saints in Strategic Times.) Wooding is also the author of some 34 books, a syndicated columnist and a commentator on the UPI Radio Network in Washington, DC. ASSIST Ministries is involved in linking pen pals in the West with new believers in the former Soviet Union and also providing them with the Scriptures. 

Dan Wooding acknowledges the invaluable help of Direction magazine in compiling this story.