Actress Tara Leniston will be taking on her most important role to date -- as a first-time mum.

The Diary can reveal that the gorgeous blonde, who once dated John Lennon's son Julian Lennon, is expecting a baby with her TV presenter fiance Andrew Fowler in the spring.

And the former model said she is over the moon about her imminent arrival with the former Cabin Fever star.

Whirlwind

"I'm 18 weeks along now, so I'm due early February," she told the Diary. "I'm very, very happy about it."

The star of movies including Meet Me in Miami has been dating Andrew for less than a year after meeting through mutual friends.

The pair got engaged following their whirlwind romance, with her other half getting down on bended knee and popping the question during a holiday in Malta.

But the nuptial celebrations have now been pushed back until late next year, given the couple's happy news.

The pair first went public with their romance in February after being spotted in a passionate embrace at the Fireball in the Shelbourne Hotel.

Since then, they have been inseparable, with Andrew -- who fronts the Overseas Property Show -- deciding to pop the question after less than six months together.

No stranger to high-profile romances, fun-loving Tara has previously been linked with stars, including singer Lennon, and rugby star Peter Stringer.

She also went out to dinner with Pop Idol host Ryan Seacrest during her time in LA.

Speaking about the dating scene there, she said: "The thing is, in LA, you can date people -- just meet them for a no-strings-attached lunch or coffee -- which isn't really done here.

"Here, guys are either totally shy or they're like, 'Wanna shag?'

"I had been out on a date with this other guy before Ryan. I had been on a few dinners with him. And I saw him when I was with Ryan and I panicked. So I leaned down under the table and said I'd been bitten by an insect.

"He was behind Ryan and I was trying to keep out of his line of vision. I went to the toilet and didn't come out for 20 minutes. I didn't see Seacrest again. He probably thought I was mad!"

But Tara came in for a tough time after a mooted project with Al Pacino entitled Danny Boy fell through, prompting an acerbic article about the young actress.

"I cried when I read that piece," she said. "It's like I was being painted as a fraud.

Naive

"But in the movie world, things often fall through. I was naive. I was excited.

"As far as I was concerned, everything was going well. So when journalists called me up and asked: 'Do you want to talk about it?' I said: 'I'd love to, thanks.' And then it fell through and all of a sudden it's, 'She's making this up.'

"I mean, who in their right mind would make up a story about them being in a film?"

- MF