SOPHIE’S CHOICE
SLIPPING out of her chauffeured car at The Star Gold Coast, The Bachelorette Sophie Monk stops traffic in a figure-flaunting fluoro frock.
But while the sex-bomb curves that stole Hollywood hearts and spiced up Playboy are wrapped in an arresting designer number, her feet are comfily cocooned in uggs.
She later shucks the slippers for stylist-selected heels but the unvarnished Gold Coast girl isn’t far from the surface.
Before Popstars propelled Monk into the public eye at 19, she struggled to find her feet. “I was really bad at school, so Mum and Dad made sure they pushed me into entertainment,” she said.
“I went to five schools ... and it didn’t work for me, so I ended up at a performing arts school where I did dance, acting. I was school captain there – but I still failed English.”
Monk is easy to talk to, swapping stories of old stomping grounds: “OMG, I used to hang out at Australia Fair all the time and I remember I was so bored I’d pretend to be a mannequin and scare people.
“My first kiss was at a party. He was kissing me for ages until I got the hang of it. I would have been about 14.
“I felt so chubby, I wasn’t a skinny teenager at all. They used to say to me, ‘It ain’t over until the fat lady sings’. I was quite curvy. I loved food over boys, to be honest.
“But then you’d go to Wet’n’Wild and you’d get so much attention.”
Some of those local lads must be kicking themselves now? “A few guys that barred me in high school have said they dated me – you didn’t, you can’t claim it now.
“There’s so many stories of me being with these guys and I wasn’t with anyone except my first boyfriend who I was with for seven years.”
When The Bachelorette premieres on Wednesday she can add 18 of Australia’s most eligible bachelors to that often-exaggerated list of romantic interests.
“You are actually dating these people and if you’re kissing them it’s really personal. I went on saying I’m not kissing any of them unless I’m obsessed and next minute … first date, second date, even third date. I don’t get out a lot and do all those things, so I got so invested.”
When things get a little crazy, her Gold Coast family are her anchor. Not only has Monk bought her own home here, she’s building a place next door for her parents.
“I have to look after them; they looked after me my whole life and I wouldn’t be doing this if they didn’t back me. I’m rarely home but I got this house because I want to be close to my family.”
Monk said she finds her match on the show but he won’t be stealing her from away her first love. “I’ll always base myself on the Gold Coast. When I lived in LA for 10 years I just couldn’t settle down and meet a guy. My heart was at home. My heart was here.”