Denise Van Outen has shared photographs from a night out in fishnet tights and tiny mini shorts, after saying she feels “sexier than ever” in her fifties.
The 52-year-old actress and singer posed in a semi-sheer, glittering top beneath a statement faux-fur jacket after getting ready in her hotel room.
She captioned the Instagram post: “Loved staying @no131cheltenham ✨ Comfiest bed and the Sunday roast was so tasty. Even squeezed in a little shopping✨”
Van Outen said during the summer that she had gained confidence with age and now preferred her figure to the way it was in the 1990s.
“I feel sexier now than I did in my twenties in a bikini,” she said. “So much more. I love the fact I’ve got curvier and my hips have expanded.”
She added: “The secret to feeling confident in a bikini is that I’ve learned to accept myself. I feel quite free when I’m wearing one.”
The latest post follows comments from Van Outen about finding a greater sense of freedom as her daughter, Betsy, has become more independent.
Van Outen welcomed Betsy in 2010 with her former husband, West End performer Lee Mead. The couple married in 2009 and separated in 2013, with gruelling work schedules, distance and growing apart cited as factors.
Although the pair have continued to co-parent “brilliantly”, Van Outen said she had taken on much of the parenting herself, describing it as “really challenging at times”.
Now that Betsy is 16, she said she had begun to ease back slightly and felt less consumed by worry.
“She’s just turned 16, she’s only just got to an age where I sort of give her a little bit more slack, and she’s really independent in certain areas of her life,” Van Outen said.
She described the change as “a bit of peace” and said: “I feel like you get your freedom back a little bit. You get a bit of a second wind.”
Recalling when Betsy was four, Van Outen said she had felt guilty whenever work took her away, even when her mother helped with childcare.
“Whereas now she’s 16, she’s happy to see the back of me. She’s like, ‘come on, off you go’,” she said.
