Five months to go

With only two months to go before the birth of her first child, Anna Friel could be forgiven for putting her feet up and indulging in the odd craving for comfort food.

But celebrities live by different rules than other mums.

The 28-year-old actress has agreed to film nude scenes for her next movie in October, three months after the baby is due to arrive.

So rather than go on a weight loss programme following the birth, she has started the diet already. And she is still exercising four times a week.

'I pray I don't have a Caesarean so I can get into a workout regime quicker,' she told Grazia magazine.

'We've got a good rowing machine at home and we're lucky enough to live on the Long Walk in Windsor, so I'll run a lot.

'I'll also stick to the diet I'm on now: loads of soups containing beans, barley and pulses, which fill you up.

'I have been really good, eating incredibly healthy stuff and doing yoga four times a week.

' This whole thing about wanting ice cream, wanting this, wanting that when you're pregnant, it's better to just not do it.

'I think it's better to get into an exercise routine as soon as possible, even if you are tired with the baby, otherwise the weight stays on and it becomes too much of a drag.'

Miss Friel is due to start work on a follow-up to the football film Goal! in October and has promised producer Mike Jeffries that she will have 'a bikini body by then'.

The actress and her partner, actor David Thewlis, feared she might be unable to have a child after she suffered endometriosis, where cells normally found in the womb lining attach themselves to other parts of the pelvis, causing scar tissue and symptoms of pain and inflammation.

This led to an ovarian cyst. 'The doctors had said it would be very difficult for me to have children,' she said.