Where have all the ladettes gone?

What a difference a year or two makes. Back then, they were loud, brash and boozy, now, they are anything but. So what has changed in the lives of ladettes such as Zoë Ball to make them now so 'responsible'?

Denise Van Outen
Then In her heyday, Denise Van Outen scored big points in the ladette league by flashing her breasts at Prince Charles, stealing smoking paraphernalia from Buckingham Palace and presenting tasteless TV shows such as Something For the Weekend, where female contestants identified their boyfriends from a jungle of genitalia.

Now These days it couldn't be more different. Van Outen is more likely to be found practising her Chicago lines at home.

The new demure Van Outen says of her change of direction: 'There comes a time when you want to be taken seriously. I don't always want to be the queen of nudge-nudge, wink-wink. I'm a little bit older and wiser about what I do.'

Gail Porter
Then Gail Porter famously took ladette-ism to new heights when she had a 100ft image of her buttocks projected on to the Houses of Parliament. Meanwhile, Porter's propensity to discuss her orgasm patterns with lad mags, as well as her love of putting her girlfriends before her blokes, guaranteed her ladette status.

Now How things have changed. These days, Porter (now using her married surname, Hipgrave) prefers to stay in with Toploader husband Dan Hipgrave. The days of partying with a gang of female mates is behind her ? for the moment. Now she's expecting a baby. This coming from the girl who just two years ago said: 'There isn't a maternal bone in my body. I never ever want to have children. They're not for me.'

Zo? Ball
Then Known as 'the whisky-swigging lass', Zo? Ball was the reigning ladette until she settled down with Norm. Often photographed tumbling out of nightclubs with the rest of the Met set, her biggest triumph came when, unimpressed by the totty in a New York go-go bar, she ripped off her top and did her own little number around a greasy pole.

Now Ball's wild-child days came to a screaming halt when she got her father to sing 'The Owl and the Pussycat' to husband Norman at their wedding. Since the birth of her son Woody, she's a vision of devoted motherhood. You know a ladette's time is truly up when she says: 'I'd rather talk about nappies and baby poo than who's shagging who.'

Ulrika Jonsson
Then At her ladette best, Ulrika Jonsson was so fond of Guinness she once knocked back seven pints during an interview, without so much as burping. She worked the sexy blonde tomboy image on Shooting Stars to perfection, fooling around with Vic and Bob, and performing her favourite party trick - downing a pint in seven seconds.

Now Since the birth of her daughter Bo, the Red Devil tattoo on Ulrika's Rear of the Year is a distant memory. Now she's a responsible single mother of two and could give Liz Hurley a few pointers. Shooting Stars is back, but this time Ulrika won't be downing pints. She's more likely to be warming baby bottles. Hardly the pastime of a party girl.
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Donna Air
Then Donna Air gilded her reputation by getting blitzed in nightclubs with Natalie Appleton and posing for lad mags in little more than dental floss (does the headline 'Donna's Kebabs' ring a bell?). But even the most dedicated ladette can lose her lust for partying.

Now The former Big Breakfast presenter recently announced she'd done enough partying for the whole of the next millennium. She says: 'I used to be champagne and tequila frenzied, but I can't party all night any more.' Whereas Air used to practise upping her alcohol average at the Met Bar, she now favours tea and scones and playing at being lady of the manor at boyfriend Damian Aspinall's country house.