At age 16, Holly Valance burst onto TV screens in Australian soap Neighbours, before storming to number one in the UK charts with her mega-hit cover of Kiss Kiss.
There was a time in the early noughties when you couldn’t avoid seeing Holly on TV or hearing her on the radio, such was her meteoric rise to fame.
But nowadays she is better known for slamming Greta Thunberg as a ‘demonic little gremlin’ and for being married to the Reform party’s latest treasurer, Nick Candy, 51.
Holly, 41, and her husband were previously vocal supporters of the Conservative Party, but the pair announced this year they would be voting for the right-wing Reform Party in the next election.
Holly also boasts a net worth of £20million from her own projects, with some small movie roles, TV appearances, and modelling under her belt.
She returned to prominence recently after being interviewed at the Tory party ‘Popular Conservatism’ launch, during which she denied that the climate crisis exists.
The former Strictly contestant added: ‘Everyone starts off as a leftie and then wakes up at some point after you start either making money, working, trying to run a business, trying to buy a home, and then realise what crap ideas they all are – and then you go to the right.’
Since her days as Flick on Neighbours, a lot has changed so here’s how Holly became the poster girl for the right wing.
Holly Valance’s movies and TV shows
Holly rose to fame as Felicity ‘Flick’ Scully on Neighbours, starring on the popular Australian soap from 1999 to 2003.
After landing the role she dropped out of her Catholic high school, which she claimed ‘girls were given detention for wearing make-up or having a hem above the knee.’
She then branched out from the soap by appearing in the rather raunchy music video for Human Nature’s He Don’t Love You.
Not only did she act, but the rising star also released two studio albums, Footprints and State of Mind, and worked as a model.
Over her 20-year career, Holly has appeared in a handful of films including 2008’s Taken and National Lampoon’s Pledge This, starring Paris Hilton.
Her brief stints on TV have consisted of episodes in CSI: Miami, CSI: New York, and Entourage as well as a recurring role on Prison Break.
She hasn’t appeared on the telly, other than political commentating, since 2013 when she was a judge on TLC’s now cancelled Shopaholic Showdown.
Two years before that, in 2011, the singer took a spin around the Strictly Come Dancing ballroom floor with professional partner Artem Chigvintsev.
She made it all the way to fourth place, losing out to a lineup of Jason Donovan, Chelsee Healey and winner McFly’s Harry Judd.
Who is Holly Valance’s husband, Nick Candy?
While professionally she is still known as Valance, Holly’s marital name is Holly Candy as she is married to the property billionaire Nick Candy.
The couple met at the party of a mutual friend in 2009 and got engaged in 2011 after a lavish trip to the Maldives.
The couple has two children, both daughters Luka Violet Toni, 11, and Nova Skye Coco, seven.
Nick, 51, along with his brother Christian, is responsible for creating the lavish £150million apartment block One Hyde Park in London.
They bought their first property in 1995, thanks to a generous £6,000 loan from their grandmother, renovating the one-bedroom flat in Earls Court, London, while living in it.
Eighteen months later, having flipped the property, they then sold it for £172,000 — making a £50,000 profit.
Holly and Nick tied the knot in 2012 and share their two children Luka Violet Toni, born in 2013, and Nova Skye Coco, born in 2017.
The family previously lived in Britain’s most expensive flat, the two-storey Hyde Park penthouse worth £175million but have since downsized and now live in a £10million mansion in the Cotswolds.
Nick was previously a well-established Tory party donor but cut ties with the party because of ‘broken promises’.
As of Decembebr 10, it was announced that he would be the new treasurer for the Reform party.
He announced in a statement: ‘I have today resigned my membership of the Conservative Party after many years of active support and substantial donations to the party.
‘I am sorry to say there have been too many broken promises and a complete breach of trust with the wealth creators in our country.
‘Nigel Farage is a close personal friend of mine, and Reform UK represents the future of British politics.
‘I am pleased to announce that I will now become the treasurer for Reform UK and intend to raise enough funds for them to win the next general election.
‘I will take up the role in the new year.’
Holly Valance’s net worth
Although Holly’s worth is substantially less than her husband’s, it’s estimated that she is a millionaire with $ 20 million (£ 15.7 million).
Celebrity Net Worth lists Nick’s net worth as somewhere around $ 2 billion (£1.57billion).
What has Holly Valance said about Greta Thunberg?
During her Tory launch interview, Holly denied climate change was a real thing as she explained: ‘I just think the climate crisis – or lack of – is not a crisis.
‘The air is better than when I was growing up, it used to stink walking down the street when I was growing up.’
Now, she then lashed out at 21-year-old activist Greta, accusing her of scaring children while on GB News’ Chopper’s Political Podcast.
She said: ‘I don’t understand why you have this, like, demonic little gremlin high priestess of climatism as the goddess in classrooms, Greta (Thunberg). All the kids are all coming home with depression and anxiety.
‘Why would you go to your music lesson or bother doing your homework or get out of your bed if you think we’re all going to be dead in five years anyway?’
Not done criticising climate concerns, she also declared gender education and discussions around sexualities should not be allowed in schools.
‘I don’t think sexuality and children should be in the same sentence,’ the former singer continued. ‘I don’t think anyone’s sexuality is anyone’s business.
‘You don’t know about mine. I don’t know about yours. Why would we?’
Adding to her rant against change, she then took aim at her home country Australia which has apparently gone too ‘woke’ for her liking.
Holly said: ‘The Australia I grew up in was unreal. It was so fun and we didn’t seem to have all these problems … the woke stuff’s really gone big in Australia.’
Fans react to Holly’s extreme career change
Fans who watched Holly in Neighbours or enjoyed her pop belter were confused to say the least about her more public appearances and outspoken views on politics.
Hundreds took to X to share their thoughts, with user MissTeeOfficial asking why she was being given a platform to talk about politics when her ‘biggest contribution to society is a role in Neighbours and being a one hit wonder’ — oof.
