Holly Valance has undergone quite the metamorphosis in the years since she was propelled to fame as Felicity 'Flick' Scully in the Australian soap opera Neighbours.

Flick, for those who recall her arrival in 1999, was a right-on schoolgirl with a bit of a feminist streak.

Holly once told her young fans on the BBC's Newsround that she shared the character's 'stubbornness and feistiness'.

These days, that's about the only similarity they share.

For Holly, now 42, has undergone a series of dramatic transformations in the intervening decades, from actress to pop princess to the wife of billionaire property tycoon Nick Candy and mother of two. And now her latest role – the poster girl for the firebrand Right.

After splitting from Candy in June last year following 13 years of marriage, she is growing increasingly close to far-Right rabble-rouser-in-chief – and convicted criminal – Tommy Robinson, founder of the English Defence League, with whom she was pictured on a luxury steam train late last year.

Also on board were Laurence Fox, the former Lewis actor and Reclaim Party leader, and his wife Elizabeth.

A picture posted online by Mr Fox showed Holly and his wife sprawled on a sofa in one of the train's carriages, with a laughing Robinson lounging nearby. A caption written by Mr Fox read: 'It's a bit early for that...'

A video on social media also showed the group sitting down to breakfast as the train – named The Chairman's Set and owned by City financier and major Reclaim donor Jeremy Hosking – left London. While Holly sipped a cup of tea, a grinning Robinson said: 'Good morning everybody. How are we?'

Holly also took a selfie on the trip, with Robinson and the Foxes posing in the background.

Tommy is 'a great guy', says Holly, adding that she has 'a lot of respect' for the career criminal who has been jailed for, among other offences, assault, stalking and mortgage fraud.

But despite their growing friendship, she insists they're not dating. She's also on affectionate terms with Reform leader Nigel Farage, and is credited with convincing him to stand as MP for Clacton, saying she had been 'whispering in his ear for a long time'.

Her children call him 'Uncle Nigel' and the affection is mutual. 'I love Holly,' he says.

But while she is clearly enjoying the company of her new political friends, those who know her are bracing themselves for whatever is coming next.

Last week, she found herself in hot water during an appearance on GB News. An interview intended to promote her return to the music world made headlines for all the wrong reasons when she used a derogatory slur for disabled people and was interrupted live on air with the host apologising on her behalf.

Talking about the Covid pandemic response in her homeland, Holly referred to 'the r****d meter', adding: 'Australia was quite high on that.'

Many would consider the language unpleasant, but her off-hand derision wasn't directed at anyone with a disability.

Cue the usual pile-on though, now obligatory for such comments regardless of the context in which they were made. Indeed, one friend, speaking exclusively to The Mail on Sunday says she's 'utterly speechless'.

'You've got to remember, Holly came from a very working-class background [and is] not particularly well-educated,' they said. 'I don't think she passed anything; she was a model in Melbourne and got picked up by Grundy television for Neighbours.

'As a celebrity, the moment you put your head over the parapet politically, you cut your fanbase in half. Anyone who does that is pretty insane, but then again, what has she got to lose?'

Holly was on GB News to talk about her rework of her 2002 chart-topper Kiss Kiss (which she originally performed naked, save for a body stocking).

Now entitled Kiss Kiss (XX) My A**e, it was created as a soundtrack to A Super Progressive Movie, a film released in her native Australia by the controversial Right-wing populist politician Pauline Hanson, and features lyrics taking aim at everything from trans issues to 'snowflakes'.

One lyric goes: 'They say that I'm a he but I'm a she. Cos I gotta V and not a D.'

The track was briefly banned by Apple after it reached No 1 in the iTunes best-selling songs chart – an expulsion (since reversed) that led to Holly's defiant appearance on the TV show.

But while defending the song, she used that slur for disabled people – a word considered so offensive that Josh Howie, the presenter of GB News show Free Speech Nation, paused proceedings and apologised to viewers.

Stuttering, he said: 'I think some people, unfortunately, might be offended.'

Holly replied: 'Hey, are we not a 'free speech nation' over here?'

Her use of the insult is surprising given that she has served as an ambassador for Disability Rights International, and her younger sister has disabilities herself. Thoroughly enjoying the spectacle, however, was good pal Tommy Robinson, who took to X to offer his praise and support.

'She's smashing it,' he wrote in one post. In another, he added: 'Well @Hollyvalance, saying r*****d [these are The Mail on Sunday's asterisks] on GB News wasn't on my bingo card today, but I love it.'

Friends were aghast. 'Her protestations are extraordinary and I just don't get it,' said one. 'As for the general tone and topic of what she is aligning with, I think anyone who is quite so outspoken is incredibly naïve and what she has said last week is pretty repugnant.

'I don't know where it's all come from.'

Putting aside political leanings, the many transformations of Holly have been extraordinary. She is the daughter of immigrants – her father, Ryko Vukadinovic, is Serbian, and her mother, Rachel Stephens, is a British-born former model who moved to Australia when she was five. Holly grew up in Melbourne with her younger sister Coco, who was diagnosed as a child with acute juvenile arthritis. Holly's parents divorced when she and Coco were very young.

Ryko remarried twice more, having daughter Olympia – who has also appeared in Neighbours – with second wife Tania and three more children with third wife Kim. 'Mum and Dad didn't have an acrimonious divorce,' Holly once recalled. 'They were always both there for us, but money was tight.'

She attended a strict Catholic school where, she once said, wearing a hem too high could result in detention, and wasn't yet a teenager when she got her first modelling job.

'I took the work and that paid for school books, a new pair of shoes,' she once said. 'From the moment I started working, I wanted to be successful, because I wanted to give Mum and Coco everything.'

By 14, she was modelling for supermarket catalogues and advertising campaigns. Then, aged 16, came Neighbours.

Like others before her, she left the show in 2002 to pursue a music career; her first single Kiss Kiss, an English language cover version of a Turkish hit, remains her most successful.

She was voted No 2 in lads' mag FHM's top 100 girls, making a seamless transition from Neighbours soap star to pop star.

She released an album the same year, but it was swiftly followed by a legal wrangle with a former manager, who sued her for breach of contract. He won the case and it cost her £150,000.

She then announced that she was no longer interested in pursuing music, and by 2004 had returned to acting, moving to Los Angeles.

Her largest role was in 2006 when she appeared as Nika Volek in the hit US drama Prison Break; and a handful of films followed, including a minor role in Taken, in 2008, alongside Liam Neeson.

She moved to the UK in 2009 and in 2011 managed to reach the semi-finals of Strictly Come Dancing. By then her fortunes had transformed again after meeting property mogul Nick Candy (who has an estimated net worth, with his brother Christian, of £1.5 billion) at a dinner party in 2010. They instantly fell for each other.

'I didn't know anything about him,' she told the MoS, when they began dating and she was getting used to his financial status.

'But I thought: 'Cor, if I didn't fancy you so much, we'd be the best of friends. Instead, I just want to make out with you all the time.'

They became engaged in 2011 and married a year later in a lavish three-day affair in Beverly Hills, with Katy Perry as wedding singer and Simon Cowell and Sir Elton John among the guests.

For a few years, it seemed that Holly had settled into her role away from the showbusiness limelight as wife, and then mother to the couple's two daughters, now aged 12 and eight.

She adopted more charitable roles, such as ambassador for the Children's Trust (the charity says she has not worked with them for some years now) and continued to advocate for Disability Rights International.

With her husband she was a regular at Conservative fundraising events, as well as being renowned for hosting gatherings in their opulent West London and Cotswolds homes.

Hints of her new political colours came in 2022, when Nigel Farage posted a picture on social media of him standing next to Donald Trump, Candy and Holly.

In February 2024, she attended the launch of Popular Conservatism, the Right-wing organisation founded by Liz Truss.

'Everyone starts off as a Leftie and then wakes up at some point,' Holly declared. 'Whether after you start making money, working, trying to run a business, trying to buy a home, then realise what c*** ideas they all are and then you go to the Right.'

Four months later, she hosted a Trump election fundraiser in West London, where tickets were said to start at £7,800, and at which Farage was present.

He declared it a 'Holly party', saying: 'You can guarantee it's going to be enormous fun.'

Weeks later, her 'whispering in his ear' seemingly paid off when Farage announced his intention to stand as an MP for Reform.

Addressing the rumours that Reform had also wanted Holly to put her hat in the ring, she demurred: 'It was very difficult, logistics-wise.' Later that year, her husband was unveiled as Reform UK's treasurer.

However, by the summer of last year, their marriage had ended. Since then, the political circles in which Holly moves have widened even further.

Last September, she was pictured with Tommy Robinson during his 'Unite the Kingdom' rally in London, wearing a grey baseball cap with the letters 'MEGA' (Make England Great Again) emblazoned across the front.

She praised the march, and Robinson, saying: 'I'm very proud and pleased for Tommy – this is his redemption. Finally.

'How the man screaming from the rooftops about the rape of white British girls was framed as 'the bad guy' is going to be a case study.

'How weak and immoral we have become. Our silence is immoral. On Saturday the lions came out.'

Last week, she was again in strident form, appearing on Dan Wootton's YouTube channel, Outspoken, where the subject of that train trip with Robinson and the Foxes came up.

'We are not dating,' she stressed, calling the gossip 'all a bit silly'. 'We are all on a big chat together and Tommy put on the chat, 'Is this a p*** take?'. It's [become] an in-joke now.'

She then went on, once again, to declare him a 'great guy'.

Whatever her relationship status, Holly certainly appears to be enjoying herself.

Her profile picture on X shows her holding a gun and wearing a pink hoodie, which bears the slogan 'Thug life'.

Appearing on Sky News Outsiders, broadcast in Australia, she recently laughed off the reaction to her controversial new song: 'Being cancelled, it's one of my first cancellations, I think, it's quite fun. I enjoyed it.'

How different she sounds from an interview she gave in 2010, when she was asked if she had any regrets.

Her response? 'I wish I'd kept my mouth shut more often.'