Wretched humiliation of Caprice

Caprice burst - literally - into public consciousness in 1996 when she appeared as a Wonderbra model. She was dubbed the "Hottest Blonde on the Planet". There was a documentary, Caprice: The Making of a Supermodel. Barely one year into her UK career, she was famous enough to be known by only her first name.

But she was no Madonna. As one former associate puts it: "Caprice liked to dream big, but that is what her ideas were - dreams, fantasies. She was very pushy but she did not have the talent or the guile to get as far as she wanted. Her ambition has alienated friends, lovers, not to mention people - such as agents - who should be supporting her."

Observers say the problem with Caprice was that there was always less to her than met the eye. When she arrived in London she played the celebrity "It" girl. In a documentary series, Filthy Rich: Daddy's Girls, she claimed to come from a moneyed family who lived in a security-screened Hollywood mansion. In fact, she was raised - mainly by her single mother - in a three-bedroom bungalow in a shabby suburb of Los Angeles called Whittier. Her father was a used-car salesman who split from her mother when Caprice was five.

Caprice always claimed that her natural beauty was just that - natural. But she never managed to shake off persistent rumours that she had had her breasts enlarged, her nose altered and her lips injected with collagen. Her first modelling agent and a TV producer claimed she had gone under the knife. Caprice hotly denies the charge.

She always insisted that she was seeking emotional security and professed her love for English men. But some former associates say the kind of security she was after was more financial than spiritual. "She plans everything - even down to the men she goes out with," one former friend told the Standard.

The men she has dated have certainly been conspicuously wealthy. She has appeared on the arm of multi-millionaire London-based property developer Robert Tchenguiz, former Arsenal captain Tony Adams, the late George Best's son, Calum, and latterly, cricketer Kevin Pietersen.

Her final fling was the most embarrassing of all. "Pietersen won the Ashes and the next thing you knew Caprice was on his arm while he was on tour in Melbourne," one male friend told the Standard. "I tried to stop her but she never listens to advice. It was such an obvious publicity stunt to raise her profile and it backfired because when Kevin dumped her he said the whole relationship had been a terrible mistake. She even lost money because she cancelled lucrative contracts to be with Kevin."

Ten years after she arrived in Britain, Caprice has achieved few of the goals she set herself. She is not a supermodel, nor a successful actress, nor a singer. Friends say the woman who was once a regular on the party scene now spends most of her time in her Surrey home. "Since her arrest she's hardly been seen. She went to one party I can recall but she spent most of her time in the VIP room sipping water and chatting on her phone." Now she is facing the public humiliation of a driving ban, a hefty fine and a criminal record.

How is she feeling? Evening Standard tried to contact her. Without an agent or a PR adviser, she is hard to get hold of. We finally tracked down Gemma Thomas, her personal assistant, who also helps to run Caprice Lingerie. Thomas refused to answer questions about her boss but said Caprice would respond to an email inquiry. She did not.

At Highbury Corner Magistrates' Court, Caprice will doubtless reflect on what remains of her career - not to mention the cold, unpalatable irony of her situation. She left the US to escape the kind of financial problems that afflicted her mother. A few years ago, penniless Valerie Bourret was arrested on charges of credit-card theft. She had hatched a plot to defraud retailers with a young male accomplice and was given three years' probation. This week it is Caprice, the one-time golden girl, who finds herself in court, facing the prospect of public ignominy.

You never know, it might just turn out to be the high-profile appearance that will resurrect her stalled career.