WHAT IT’S LIKE TO… DATE A MOVIE STAR
Fiji playmaker Ben Volavola on his other half, the actress Shailene Woodley
ast June Ben Volavola was in Suva for Fiji’s Tests against Italy and Scotland. Shailene Woodley was in Suva filming Adrift. Both were staying at the Grand Pacific
Hotel in the Fijian capital. A fortunate happenstance that resulted in the pair standing arm in arm at the LA premiere for that movie in May.
The rugby player and the Hollywood actress. It’s two worlds colliding but the couple are thriving despite the long-distance aspect. Volavola says
Lthey “hit it off straightaway” when he was introduced to her last year and as luck would have it, when he joined North Harbour to play in the Mitre 10 Cup, Woodley also headed to Auckland to finish filming the movie.
“It was fate really,” says the 27-year-old fly-half, who has won 25 caps for Fiji. “We were together non-stop in New Zealand and that’s when things started getting serious. I’m so grateful for that period. We’re now long distance but we made an agreement that we’re determined to make it work.”
If Volavola has some time off, as he did in May, he’ll head to the States to see her; if Woodley is not working, she’ll come to spend time with him in France, where he has recently swapped Bordeaux-Bègles for Racing 92. She’s also become something of a rugby fan, keeping track of his games online if she can’t be there in person.
While they have been photographed together at film premieres and fashion shows, away from the glitz and glamour of Hollywood it’s the everyday activities that they enjoy doing – watching films,