“Where the bloody hell are ya?”
Those were the six words that launched Lara Bingle’s career.
Seven years on from the tourism campaign the then 18-year-old Bingle fronted, she’s now one of Australia’s most recognisable celebrities. But the 25-year-old model has become a household name in Australia for both the right and wrong reasons.
In 2010, Bingle started proceedings to sue footballer Brendan Fevola for breach of privacy, defamation and misuse of her image for the release of a nude photo in Woman’s Day.
Unfortunately for Bingle, it later emerged that she and her agent Max Markson had sold her ‘nude photo’ story to the same magazine, which had originally published the controversial photo, Woman’s Day, for nearly $200,000.
As you can imagine, the controversy didn’t afford her the best reputation.
With a resume that can be likened to Kim Kardashian’s (er, minus the sex tape) Bingle has appeared on numerous magazine covers, been a brand ambassador for Speedo and Vodafone and starred in four reality TV shows.
These include Dancing with the Stars, Celebrity Apprentice and who could forget (oh, we did) Channel 9’s celebrity ice dancing show Torvill and Dean’s Dancing on Ice? And no, we’re not done yet, she had her own reality TV show, Being Lara Bingle, which aired on Channel 10 in 2012.
Although her show didn’t achieve consistently high ratings (the nude photo scandal withstanding) the show did propel Bingle back on to everyone’s radars.
Along with her modelling and reality tv career, Lara has also made a name for herself through the high profile relationships she’s had, the most prominent being her two-year engagement to Australian cricket captain Michael Clarke. Although the relationship ended in 2010, at the time the pair were very much in the public eye. Clarke also supported Lara through the death of her father, Graham, who died of cancer in 2008.
Since her public breakup with Clarke (unconfirmed rumours at the time were that she flushed the engagement ring down the loo) Lara has dated fashion designer, Gareth Moody and has most recently been linked with Red Hot Chilli Peppers front man Anthony Kiedis.
Although life and fame hasn’t always been easy for Bingle; 2013 will see her launch a fashion range in September which has been picked up by a major department store, she’s the new face of luxury watch brand Breitling and we’re sure there’s plenty more to come from this quadruple threat.
