Lucian Freud’s one-time muse was paid £20 a day to sit for a painting expected to fetch more than £17m.
But Londoner Sue Tilley said she did not do it for the money and had “lovely lunches” with the artist.
Freud’s 1995 work, Benefits Supervisor Sleeping, looks set to become the most expensive painting by a living artist when it is sold in New York next month.
Ms Tilley - who is now a job centre manager - joked she had now become a broadsheet pin-up.
Ms Tilley - nicknamed Big Sue - told the BBC’s Today programme: “I can’t quite believe it, to be honest. Read more
A painting by Lucian Freud is expected to become the most expensive work by a living artist sold at auction when it goes under the hammer next month.
The 1995 work, Benefits Supervisor Sleeping, is estimated to fetch between $25m and $35m (£12.7m to £17.7m).
Freud painted Benefits Supervisor Sleeping back in 1995
The current auction record for a picture by a living artist is Hanging Heart, by Jeff Koons, which sold for $23.6m (£11.3m) in November 2007.
Freud’s painting has never been seen in public in the UK before. Read more
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