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By CLAUDIA JOSEPH and CAROLINE GRAHAM
Star quality: Rosie Huntington-Whiteley pictured with co-star Shia LaBeouf on the set of Transformers 3 earlier this year
Hollywood legend has it that when her predecessor, Megan Fox, auditioned for
the blockbuster movie Transformers, its director Michael Bay filmed her washing his Ferrari Spider.
So it was only natural that ambitious British model Rosie Huntington-Whiteley would use her own assets to impress the director.
In a skimpy bikini, she turned up at a beach barbecue with her actor boyfriend Jason Statham, a neighbour of the Hollywood director, and ‘somehow’ persuaded him to give her the role of Shia LaBeouf’s love interest in the third and final Transformers film, Dark Of The Moon.
It was a cunning move by the 23-year-old model known for her pouting lips and extremely long legs, who once breathlessly told a men’s magazine: ‘You have to know how to use your body. I’m not a shy person when it comes to doing my job.’
Flower girl: Rosie at a cousin's wedding aged ten
With no acting experience – apart from playing a lap-dancer in a promotion for Agent Provocateur – she knew she had to make an impact in another way.
A producer said: ‘She was wearing a tiny bikini which showed off her amazing body and none of the guys there, including Bay, could keep their eyes off her.
‘Next thing we know, she’s landed the most coveted role in Hollywood. Every girl in town wanted to replace Megan.
‘Rosie’s got this incredible act. Provocative and sexual, and yet so very English. The Americans are crazy about her.’
More proof of her stunning transformation from Devon schoolgirl to international It Girl came last week when she was named Britain’s most sought-after date in Tatler magazine’s Little Black Book.
Surfer: Rosie pictured having fun on the beach at the age of 11 (left) and as a 12-year-old in her school photo
Beating a clutch of Royals to the top spot – including Prince William’s cousin Lady Marina Windsor and Prince Harry’s former girlfriend Chelsy Davy – she was earmarked by the magazine for stardom.
A source said: ‘Transformers turned Megan into a massive star and it will do the same for Rosie. She’s never had any formal acting lessons but who cares? Transformers isn’t about winning Oscars. It’s about wearing skimpy outfits and looking drop-dead gorgeous.’
So was it luck or sheer determination that took Rosie from a small village outside Tiverton in Devon to Hollywood?
A hint comes on her Facebook page, which claims: ‘She is a distant relative of Queen Victoria.’ In truth, she is connected to Royalty only through the marriage of one of her distant relatives, Lieutenant-Commander Miles Huntington-Whiteley, to Queen Victoria’s great-great-granddaughter Victoria.
Rosie, the eldest of three children of Charles Huntington-Whiteley, a land agent and chartered surveyor, and Fiona, a fitness instructor, grew up in a farmhouse in the hamlet of Quither.
Top model: Rosie modelling for the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show. Tatler has named her Britain's most sought-after date
Even while at St Peter’s Junior School she was ambitious. ‘I knew I was going to leave Devon and that whatever I did, it would be big,’ she said later.
But it was only after she arrived at Tavistock College in 1998 that she first showed the characteristics that would propel her to stardom.
She says she was a ‘massive flirt’, landing her first boyfriend Kyle Hunn. A keen musician who wanted to become a DJ or start a band, he was one of the in-crowd, a hallmark of all her future boyfriends.
In her school yearbook, she was voted the ‘person most likely to become a supermodel’ as well as ‘the girl with the best legs’ and the ‘biggest Barbie’. She came second on the lists for ‘prettiest girl’, ‘best-dressed girl’ and ‘prettiest bum’.
Seven years ago, just before sixth form, Rosie did work experience at Profile model agency.
Model booker Laura Manktelow said: ‘When she walked in, I just thought, “Oh my God”. She was only 15 and had bad teenage skin but she was really, really striking. Now she’s shot up to 5ft 9in, her skin is clear and she is just gorgeous.’
The next summer she became a full-time model for Profile, getting her big break on the New York catwalk alongside Naomi Campbell. She then moved to Models One, which landed her a coveted contract as the face of Burberry in 2008. But she was dropped after one season when a photo emerged of her in a club looking rather as if she was holding a bong to smoke cannabis.
Since then she has modelled for Victoria’s Secret and Agent Provocateur, is in this year’s Pirelli calendar and has been in videos with rappers Pharrell and Kanye West.
Her personal life has made headlines too. After breaking up with her schoolboy boyfriend, she dated model Chris Howe. When they split, she upgraded to British rock royalty, meeting Ronnie Wood’s son Tyrone three years ago at a Rolling Stones gig.
They were widely expected to marry, but they parted last November, leaving Tyrone ‘heartbroken’. Rosie then dated French actor Oliver Martinez, Kylie Minogue’s former squeeze, before moving to LA where she met Statham, 38.
While filming Transformers, a rumour surfaced that she had attracted the attentions of her co-star LaBeouf. Although he and Rosie vigorously denied it, he has since split from his British actress girlfriend Carey Mulligan.
Additional reporting: Simon Trump
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Crowing glory: Miss America Alexandria Mills was named the winner of Miss World at Saturday night's contest in southern China
Thrilled: The 18-year-old calls Louisville, Kentucky, her hometown, and she recently graduated from high school
Tears: The blonde was overcome with emotion after the announcement
Runners up: Miss Botswana Emma Wareus and Miss Venezuela Adriana Vasini came second and third
