Shilpa Shetty's Biography

She won Celebrity Big Brother in 2007.

Whereas Rakhi Sawant and Anupama Verma appeared in Big Boss (India's Big Brother), Shilpa Shetty appeared in Celebrity Big Brother in the UK.

Celebrity Big Brother was a torrid time for Shilpa Shetty as she came under fire from Jade, Danielle and Jo. Their comments to Shilpa caused a public furore and there were a record 30,000 complaints and Carphone Warehouse suspended sponsorship of Celebrity Big Brother.

On Friday 20 January the public had to vote to evict either Jade Goody or Shilpa Shetty. A huge 82% of the public vote went to save Shilpa Shetty and evict Jade Goody.

After winning Celebrity Big Brother, Shilpa Shetty did an interview with Kay Burley of Sky News, in which she criticised Jade Goody's behaviour but repeated that she did not think that Jade was racist.

Shilpa Shetty was at the heart of another media storm when Richard Gere kissed her publicly at an Aids awareness rally in New Delhi. Various protesters said that Gere was insulting Indian culture.

However, Shilpa Shetty told The Times magazine that Richard Gere was "an honourable man who has done so much good and who had come to our country only with the best of intentions. I could not let his view of us be defined only by a regressive lunatic fringe. I'm too proud of India to allow that to happen."

Previously, in 2004, Shilpa Shetty had played an HIV sufferer in Phir Milenge (Will Meet Again).

According to the BBC Shilpa Shetty has been inundated with marriage proposals by email.

However, in this extensive Shilpa Shetty interview in the Daily Record, she revealed she hasn't had a boyfriend for the 18 months prior to Big Brother and that she still lived with her father businessman Surendra and her mother Sunanda.

The interview closes with Shilpa's recipe for chicken curry!

Shilpa's sister Shamita Shetty is also a Bollywood actress. Although, by 2007, Shilpa Shetty had been an actress for 14 years, whereas her sister had just started out.

She appeared on a reality show called Haath Se Haath Milaa (Let's Join Hands), produced by the BBC World Service Trust in partnership with the National Aids Control Organisation and Doordarsha.

Additionally, Shilpa Shetty was a judge on Jhalak Dikhla Jaa, India's equivalent of Strictly Come Dancing.

Shilpa Shetty embraced with Danielle Lloyd at the premiere of her new film Life In A... Metro, which was making its debut in Leicester Square. It was the first-ever Leicester Square premiere for an Indian movie.

Partly as a result of winning Celebrity Big Brother, in 2007 Shilpa Shetty met the Queen and Tony Blair.

The Telegraph had a good photo of Shilpa Shetty meeting the Queen during a Commonwealth Day service at Westminster Abbey in March 2007.

In June 2007, the BBC reported that Shilpa Shetty was to star in a musical in London called From Bollywood To Hollywood.

Shilpa Shetty appeared in the musical Bollywood whose tour included London in November 2007.

In 2008, Shilpa Shetty hosted Big Boss, the Indian version of Big Brother. The housemates included Jade Goody.

In March 2009, The Mail reported that Shilpa Shetty was to marry boyfriend Raj Kundra later in the year.

Shilpa Shetty loves cricket and is a part-owner of the Rajasthan Royals.

She does yoga and is a green belt in karate.