This picture of Myleene Klass looking sexy and curvaceous in a white bikini has become an almost iconic image – but she has confessed she felt PODGY in it.

The former Hear’Say star had given birth to baby daughter Ava just three months before the Marks & Spencer shoot and felt sick with insecurity over her figure.

The 30-year-old revealed: “I’m only 5ft 5ins and I had a bit of a tummy. I felt small and podgy.”

Sexy: Myleene Klass in THAT Marks & Spencer bikini

To make matters worse, the new mum was on location with super-skinny models Erin O’Connor and Twiggy.

And when the stylists gave her a bikini to put on, Myleene confesses she felt “physically sick”.

She said: “I said to them ‘You do realize I just had a baby three months ago?’

“It was really difficult for me to overcome my issues so soon after giving birth.”

Having put on four stone during the pregnancy, the classically-trained pianist was feeling decidedly heavier than her usual nine stone.

Myleene cools down during her 2006 stint on I'm A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here

And after slimming down to a svelte eight stone after her stint in the jungle on I’m A Celebrity … Get Me Out Of Here!, Myleene was feeling especially self-conscious about her extra pounds.

But looking back on the experience, she told The People: “I’ve realized M&S picked me because I’m not a model, I’m a real woman with curves.

“I’ve got stretch marks, and I wobble in different places now – but it’s just like war wounds and I wear them with pride.”

Myleene has admitted her transition to motherhood has been anything but plain sailing.

Mum on the run: Myleene Klass and baby Ava

She says she felt let down by the NHS after a shortage of midwives meant she had to wait nine days for a home visit after her daughter’s birth.

The star felt “isolated and lonely” afterwards and even considered leaving her fiancé Graham Quinn.

Happily though, the pair seem to have come through the experience and are even considering adding to their family.

Myleene said: “If you had asked me a few months ago, I’d have said no way any more kids.

“But nature has a way of making you forget. I’m broody again…”