Myleene Klass: My dad Oscar was a ship's captain in the Navy, and I was born in Yarmouth, so I guess I never had any choice but to grow up with a connection with the sea! I used to play in the recompression chamber as a small child, and I was always, always messing about on boats with my Dad. I think if I hadn't become a musician, I would have wanted to be a professional diver.
Tim Ecott: When did you learn to dive?
MK: I probably learned unofficially when I was about 11, but I didn't get certified until I took a PADI Open Water course in the Turks & Caicos about 10 years ago.
TE: Where else have you done scuba?
MK: Sharm el Sheikh, the Bahamas, Maldives and the Seychelles.
TE: You like warm water then?
MK (giggling): Definitely, but I do have an adventurous streak. When I was in the Seychelles with my band [Hear'Say - the group created in 2001 after a televised talent contest, and which sold 3 million records worldwide before its break-up 18 months later] someone told us there was a whale offshore near Mahé. We all jumped on the boat, and OH, MY GOD, this was the biggest thing I've ever seen. We must have been crazy, we were in a tiny boat and it could have crushed us in a second!
TE: Wow, I've never heard of anyone even seeing a whale near Mahé - and I used to live there. Are you sure it wasn't a whale shark?
MK: No, it was a whale. Maybe even a blue whale.
TE: Wow. Did you get into the water with it?
MK: Are you crazy? No.
TE: Do you have a favourite marine creature?
MK: I think turtles. Seeing a turtle in the wild is just really special. I'd love to see a shark, but I've never managed to see one under water yet.
TE: Do you own any diving equipment?
MK: Just a wetsuit and mask.
TE: Is there anywhere you'd like to dive but haven't yet managed?
MK: Australia, I suppose. Everyone says the Great Barrier Reef is so amazing.
TE: Tell me about these extraordinary photographs of you in a tank at Pinewood studios?
MK: I was offered the chance to do an underwater shoot and see for myself what it was like modelling under water. The weirdest thing was being able to hear voices under water, and having to remember to do things like brush the bubbles away from my mouth when the photos were being taken.
TE: Does anything under water scare you?
MK: Things that sting and bite! I'm not scared of the sea itself, but my dad taught me to respect the sea. I don't romanticise it, things can happen quickly, so you need to know what you're doing. He always taught me that. He gave me a shipwreck when I was a child. It's a secret, but I've got the charts showing where it is in the North Sea. Maybe, one day, I'll go there.
Photos by Phoebe Rudomino, Underwater Stage at Pinewood Studios
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