Real Life Disney Princess Sets Up Business As Professional MERMAID
Any little girl who has seen The Little Mermaid will have wanted to be Ariel at some point in their lives - but one woman has actually done if for real.
Grace Page has dreamed of being half-fish ever since she was a child, and even made her own flippers, teaching herself to swim by watching hours of dolphin footage.
Now her obsession is paying off in more ways than one - Grace is set to earn a fortune earning £100-an-hour as a professional mermaid.
The 23-year-old from Reading, Berks, said it was the Disney underwater classic that sparked her love for mermaids.
She revealed: “I’ve always loved mermaids and Ariel has always been my favourite Disney princess.
"I used to ask my mum if I could have a tail and she said no because I would drown.
"But I taught myself to swim using homemade flippers.
"I love dolphins too, so I mimic them.”
Her business is now taking off and Grace already has a company making personalised video messages dressed as Disney princesses and she makes all of her own costumes.
Practicing the art of swimming like a mermaid wasn’t easy and it was only when she set up an agreement with her local gym that Grace was able to fine tune her technique.
She explained: ”You strap both of your feet into the monofin and it holds your legs together and you have to roll your body in a belly dancer motion and then flick your legs - like the worm.
"I’m not very good at swimming like a person, but I’m very graceful as a mermaid.”
Grace is now swamped with jobs and one woman even decorated her house with an underwater theme for her 50th birthday party - and Grace sat in a clam seat to sing Happy Birthday.
Keen to make things even more lifelike, Grace has just ordered a green silicone, handmade tail from America to help her swim more gracefully.
However, despite having a clamshell bikini, Grace refuses to dye her blonde locks red, to complete her transformation into Ariel.
She added: "I’m a real-life Disney princess.”
