How rich is Billie Piper?

Billie Piper, the teenage pop princess turned twenty-something television star, recently appeared for the last time in the ratings-hit Secret Diary of a Call Girl.

Hit: In the TV series Secret Diary

In the comedy drama, which ran for four series, Piper plays Belle de Jour, a high-class prostitute who proclaims she enjoys 'being paid handsomely to do something she does very well'.

Piper could say the same about her own career, having earned £400,000 for the final season on top of generous pay deals for the earlier series. This is four times the amount the real life prostitute Brooke Magnati (on whose blog the ITV programme is based) claims to have earned through her 'secret' profession.

Piper once told The Independent she is driven by interesting work rather than financial incentives. She explained: 'Because I started so young, and I had the pop career before I had my acting career, I'm not in it for fame or money. I'm just in it because I love it. '

Born in Swindon, Wiltshire ,in September 1982, builder's daughter Piper certainly embarked on her entertainment career early, winning roles at age seven in an American soft drinks TV ad, as an extra in the movie Evita, which starred Madonna, and a bit-part in Eastenders.

At 11 she won a scholarship to the Sylvia Young Theatre School and at age 15 appeared in a TV ad for record magazine Smash Hits.

Pop star: Billie the teenager

This proved to be her big break as she was spotted by music label Innocent (part of Virgin) with whom she signed a three-album deal and recorded the chart-topping hit Because We Want To.

Piper's pay was said to be negligible during this period despite successful follow-up singles and albums. Struggling for a time with anorexia after a presenter described her as fat, Piper's pop career eventually fizzled out.

This coincided with her meeting millionaire radio DJ Chris Evans in 2001. Despite a 16-year age gap, they married later the same year in Las Vegas after a whirlwind romance. Piper was only 19 year old.

Piper spent the next three years essentially globetrotting and drinking with the ginger-haired DJ - but did take some acting lessons in Los Angeles where they bought a multi-million pound house.

Married: With DJ Chris Evans

Eventually the pair returned to the UK and refocused on their careers. In 2003 Piper was cast in the BBC's successful The Miller's Tale, part of the channel's modern take on Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. Her performance got her noticed by casting directors and helped land her the role that blasted her career and earnings potential into outer space as Rose Tyler, feisty sidekick to first Christopher Eccleston's and then David Tennant's Dr Who.

Piper was considered a coup signing by the programme makers who were keen to revive the cult classic for modern audiences, so much so that the BBC is said to have paid £210,000 to encourage her to stay for the second series in 2005 after she wavered over typecasting fears.

Tennant was offered just £166,0000 for his role as the time lord. The BBC said at the time: 'Her deal is what she deserves as she's a favourite with fans.'

The actress, who split from Evans in 2004 - famously refusing to make a claim on the multi-millionaire's fortune when they eventually filed for divorce - also won approval for roles in the modern adaptation of Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing and ITV's Mansfield Park and, more recently, the BBC drama A Passionate Woman.

Piper topped up her acting income with a six-figure sum from publishing her autobiography Growing Pains in 2007 and royalties roll in steadily from the sales of DVDs that include her performances.

Remarried: With Lawrence Fox

Meanwhile, Piper, now 29, is said to be hunting around for a new challenge. While ITV announced that it was the end of the line for the TV version of Secret Diary, Piper is reported to be in talks about reprising her role on the big screen. If so, her movie pay will not doubt dwarf her television earnings.

Even if she decides to takes a break to spend time with her two-year-old son Winston with second husband actor Laurence Fox, whom she married in 2007, Piper won't be destitute. He is co-star of Lewis, the popular successor to ITV's classic detective series Morse. By marrying Fox, Piper has also joined one of the most famous British acting dynasties that includes her husband's father James, uncle Edward and cousin Emilia, star of BBC1's Silent Witness.

Piper met Fox when they appeared together on the West End stage in black comedy Treats in 2007. They now live in a £750,000 country cottage in Easebourne, West Sussex.