I met Tara on [ITV’s now defunct music programme] CD:UK back in 2002. She’d come runner-up on I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!, and I went up to tell her I loved her in the jungle. She was all, “Really?”, all self-deprecatory, but also very charming and thankful. She returned later to thank me again, shook my hand, and in hers was some paper with her phone number on it, scrawled in eyeliner. That was very Tara: naughty, playful, headstrong. We were close friends after that.

This was after the craziest days of her fame. She still liked going out, but we’d stay in lots, playing the piano. She was talented. She’d be playing Bach one moment, then Clocks by Coldplay, or Somewhere Only We Know by Keane – she had a great singing voice – then she’d jump off the stool and do a headstand on top of it. I’d be, “You’re going to fall over!” She never did. She was like a child, really. We’d spend hours on our backs laughing on her living room floor. That’s what I miss most – her laugh. I’ve never known anyone so funny.

She’s known for her wealth [she was born into a family of landowners close to the royal family], but she was generous too. If someone came up to her in a restaurant and said they liked her handbag, she’d tip out its contents and give it to them. “Oh, they really liked it! It’s only fair they should have it.” One night she walked home barefoot because she’d given her shoes away.

She’d make a point of talking to everyone at a party, and make sure no staff got left out. She even made friends with her fans on Twitter, and went to some of their birthday parties. “Where are you off to, Tara?” “Oh, Manchester, darling, I’ve met these lovely, lovely people online!” Imagine her turning up – all their Christmases coming at once. Her childlike innocence made me love her.

Things got difficult after she did The Jump [ITV’s celebrity winter sports programme, which was broadcast in January 2014]. It was her chance to come back, and she’d always been good at skiing, but it didn’t work out for her [she left shortly before the series was shown]. It put her into a dark place, and when Tara went dark, fucking hell, it was dark. She wouldn’t eat, and wouldn’t look after herself. I tried to motivate her, but nothing worked.

Eventually, I spoke to her family and they helped her get better, but still she would be devastated at what people would say about her in newspapers and on comments on stories. She went to a launch last October in a 60s bobbed wig – she’d really tried to make an effort – and the comments devastated her. She’d had lots of hospital tests that year [she was diagnosed with a pituitary tumour and an autoimmune disorder], and was still complaining about feeling sick, but she was fed up of being, as she’d say, “poked and prodded about”. If she’d gone again, I think she’d have been with us now.

She’d have been so excited about the royal wedding. She grew up around those boys, and Harry was her favourite. I know she’d have absolutely loved Meghan Markle. She’d also be planning her outfit as we speak, wanting to do one better than last time [she wore electric blue to the 2011 royal wedding]. I can imagine her squealing down the phone right now, an excited little girl.