Articles

"Black magic woman" - Ministry Magazine, February 1999.

Emma Ledden hits your screens this month as the new face of MTV Europe. She slips into something a little devilish to present our Month Of Love…

You can picture the scene. A convent school in Dublin. At the back of the class a 16 year-old girl rolls up her sleeve and, using her school tie as a tourniquet, forces a bulging blue vein to the surface of her left forearm. She jabs in a drip-tipped needle and plunges home the murky brown contents of her syringe. The teacher, Sister Mary, comes running down to her just as she falls deliriously off her chair. She looks up, pulls out the needle and waves it at Sister Mary, screaming "Back the fuck off, penguin, or you'll get some of this!"

Emma Ledden is shouting at the top of her voice, "Are you telling me that I'm boring?! Is that what you're saying?!" The 21 year-old ex-model, ex-convent girl, ex-Dubliner, has been racking her brains for childhood anecdotes appropriate to her current status as the new hyper-sexy, crazy, wild and wicked MTV chickerino. So far, she's come up with "I used to get into trouble for not doing PE," and so Ministry, expecting something more along the above lines, is trying not to appear too unimpressed. She continues in faux horror, "I actually don't think I'm boring, but I can see it in your eyes. Am I that bad?"

Emma is bad, all right. Well, jammy anyway. At 16 she was plucked from the relative obscurity of a journalism course and thrust into the catty, high intensity world of Dublin's modelling scene. "I was never going to be really sucessful at it," she insists, "I'm not really beautiful, and I'm not six foot tall, so it was never everything to me. But I suppose it was better than working in a supermarket!" She then segued nicely into a stint as a presenter on Irish kiddie TV, and was briefly mentioned in a men's mag special on Dublin - an article that caught the attention of MTV bosses who now describe their precious find as "…one in a million. TV was made for her. She's the perfect combination of beauty and intelligence - a fantasy figure who can also be your best friend." Emma's not having that one, "I'm not a fantasy figure - I'm far from it. I'm not saying I'm ugly and fat, or I'm not saying 'look at me, I'm a ride', I'm just not Cindy Crawford." Despite the self-depreciation, Emma's delicious MTV self is already burning up the primetime airwaves in everything from The Dancefloor to MTV News, shadowing the Carmen Electras and Jenny McCarthys of this world - "Your TV personality is just an extension of you, you tend to be more hyper than normal. Two seconds before you go on air you just go: Agghhhhh!"

And so, in an East London photo studio, after some ham sarnies and cheap white wine ["just get me drunk and I'll tell you all my secrets"], Emma metaphorically goes "Agghhh!" and clocks the boredom issue on the head by remembering that one killer childhood anecdote - "I used to go 'knacker drinking' in the park when I was 14. You know, you put on your tracksuit, go out to the park, huddle together, drink your two litres of cider, get completely hammered and then pass out and collapse."

Not bad at all. But what do you do when you go out these days?
I still do it now, in nightclubs. Come 3am and I'm dead. Except I don't fall over now, and I drink vodka and Red Bull, I'm too sophisticated. I just fall asleep instead.

What happens when blokes chat you up in clubs?
When I go out, I'm always out on the floor. And guys never come up to you when you're on the floor. I'm usually out with a group of girls - Yeah, I'm one of THOSE girls.

What was presenting MTV's The Dancefloor like?
The energy was like nothing I've ever done before. Amazing. The day I did it I was really tired, but the second you walk into a club, the music just gets you going.

Was it just the music? Or did you have some er, help?
Eh? Oh, I see, help. No. I don't do drugs. Ever. And it's not that I'm a control freak, but I just can't handle the idea of NOT being in control. And anyway, it would kill my mum.

OK, so you're in the Met Bar and Natalie Imbruglia offers you a vial of cocaine. What do you do?
Say no.

How do you do it without hurting her feelings?
Say no.

What's your favourite club?
I really like the POD in Dublin. I'm the biggest poser in the world so the POD suits me fine. I used to get in free, so I went every week. I haven't gone out enough in London to have a favourite yet.

A favourite DJ?
Dave Chambers [one of Ministry of Sound's resident DJs].

Do you have a boyfriend?
Well, I'm kinda seeing someone at the moment. He lives in Dublin.

How does he feel about you being in this sex, drugs and rock'n'roll world?
He's been a good friend for a long time, so he's cool about everything. Besides, he knows I'm horny.

Do you ever sing to him before you have a night of love?
Oh yeah. I'm the smoochiest, corniest, girl around. Sure, put on some Mariah Carey and I'll sing along. He's going to kill me if he reads this.

Have you ever kissed a man with a pointy beard?
No, I can't stand facial hair.

What about hairy chests and cloven hooves?
Er, I once had a boyfriend with a hairy chest.

What about licking hairy backs?
Urgh. Can't stand them.

Have you ever kissed a man with filed teeth and red eyes?
No. I snogged someone who kissed like they were doing it through a polo mint. You know, like all tight lipped.

Have you ever experienced the rapid-fire lizard-tongue-snog-motion thing?
Been there, done that.

Chris Evans and Peter Stringfellow both invite you over to their table. Which one do you go to?
Chris Evans: he might let me on TFI Friday.

That's an appalling plea.
Please don't print that. I'm taking the piss.

You have to sleep with all of Boyzone. Who do you start with?
Do I have to sleep with them? I'm not being mean, and they're all really nice lads… but no.

If you had to sleep with a Boyzone doll, which one would you choose?
No. The answer is still no.

What about your future?
I don't worry about that. I want to go as far as I can, but who knows?

MTV knows. Given their track record for picking embryonic superstars, it'll be no time before she's up there with Jenny and Carmen. So the next time you're spotwelded to the sofa after a marathon dancefloor-session, check out the new babe on MTV.

© Ministry Of Sound, February 1999. All Rights reserved.

Last Updated: 23^rd December 1999.