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сегодня появилась информация, что все-таки Gemma Ward возвращается в модельный бизнес..




Gemma Ward to star on Perth stage

RECLUSIVE supermodel Gemma Ward has broken a three-year silence to reveal her 'nervous excitement' at making her international stage debut in Perth and to speak for the first time of her relationship with the late Heath Ledger, saying "there was no one like him - and no one will ever be like him".

In a major coup, the Perth Theatre Company has secured Ward to play a starring role in its debut play, The Ugly One, at the new State Theatre Complex.

The 23-year-old will base herself in Australia and rehearse with the rest of the cast in Perth from February 14 in preparation for opening night on March 22.

In an exclusive interview with The Sunday Times she admitted being on stage was something she had "dreamed of".

"Oh, I'm so excited," she said from New York. "I'm so excited; I've just been jumping out of my skin. I'm definitely nervous, but excitement is overriding everything right now."

As well as announcing her theatrical debut, Ward also opened up on her relationship with Heath Ledger and her decision to avoid the spotlight for three years.

The architect behind the Gemma Ward coup is PTC artistic director Melissa Cantwell, who met the supermodel last December when she was in Perth at Christmas.

"I had a coffee with Melissa," Ward said. "She talked to me a little bit about the script but she didn't really tell me exactly what it was about. She said, 'You know, I'd really love you to be a part of it' but she kind of left it up to me to read (the script) and see if I liked it.

"So I drove home (and) read it (and) I was laughing hysterically the entire way through it. When I finished it I thought, 'I should speak to my agent or someone about this and get their opinion'. Then I thought, 'no, stuff it, I love it!' So I called Melissa and I said I loved it and would die to be a part of it.

"So it was all very, very exciting and very fast - something which I just immediately took to."

The play centres on the modern-day obsession with physical beauty when a man's boss and then his wife convince him he is so ugly he resorts to plastic surgery. Life takes a turn for the better for "the ugly one" until everyone else has the same operation.

Cantwell has total faith the catwalk model is the right person for the part of Fanny, a complex role which will involve the wide-eyed Ward playing a number of characters.

"I think Gemma is a really significant talent," she said. "And I think this is a fantastic role for her. She brings a lot (to the play).

"I knew she would be fabulous for it and I hoped she would like it as much as I do. And she did. She really responded to the piece."

The former Presbyterian Ladies' College student has also agreed to be an ambassador for the PTC, promoting the company overseas and looking for potential plays that might connect with its creed.

Performing in front of a live audience is a long way from where Ward has been the last three years as she deliberately maintained a low profile.

"I have taken a break from the media spotlight for the last few years and it was something spurred by Heath's death," she admitted.

"(Heath and I) first met in New York and we were both struggling with things that I won't get into, and we bonded over that."

"I kind of met him at first and said, 'Listen my mum's living with me right now and I'm kind of going through a hard time and I'm not interested in having a serious relationship with somebody right now' and he was like, 'You know, um, let's just be there for each other through these hard times we're both going through.'

"And we developed a relationship and we started seeing each other."

That was in November 2007 and Ward had just turned 20. The two then spent Christmas together in Perth before heading back to New York where Ledger died less than a month later on January 22, 2008.

"There was no one like him - and no one will ever be like him," she said. "I'm just so grateful I got to meet him and get as close as I did with him," she said.

Dark times united Heath and Gemma

After three years out of the spotlight, Ward will make her international stage debut in March in the Perth Theatre Company's production of The Ugly One.

Performing in front of a live audience is a long way from where the 23-year-old has been since Ledger died in January 2008.

In an exclusive interview with The Sunday Telegraph, Ward said: "I've taken a break from the media spotlight for the last few years and it was something spurred by Heath's death.

"[Heath and I] first met in New York and we were both struggling with things that I won't get into, and we bonded over that.

"I kind of met him at first and said, 'Listen, my mum's living with me right now and I'm kind of going through a hard time and I'm not interested in having a serious relationship with somebody right now', and he was like, 'You know, let's just be there for each other through these hard times we're both going through'.

"And we developed a relationship and we started seeing each other."

That was in November 2007 when Ward had just turned 20.

The two then spent Christmas together in their home town of Perth before returning to New York where Ledger died less than a month later.

"I'm just so grateful I got to meet him and get as close as I did with him," Ward said.

"The time we spent in Perth was incredible because we were both from Perth and it was also a time when it was beautiful in Perth and both our families were there and we met each other's families.

"We were able to not be in any kind of a spotlight and not have to be meeting with people or be hounded by press or anything. We lived in a magical kind of world where we weren't intruded upon."

Ledger's devotion to his toddler daughter, Matilda, is something Ward will always remember.

"He was a devoted, devoted father," she said.

"I'll never forget seeing him with Matilda and the way she looked at him and the way they were together ... she was his whole life. He loved her so much."

Ward will be in Australia for three months for The Ugly One with rehearsals beginning on February 14 before opening night on March 22.

In the play, which centres on the modern obsession with physical beauty, a man's boss - then his wife - convince him that he is ugly and he resorts to plastic surgery.

Ward will also play a mermaid in the upcoming movie Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides with Johnny Depp and Geoffrey Rush, which is due out on May 19.

Ward plans to combine acting with modelling.

"In terms of me shying away from modelling, I'd like to clarify in some way that I was taking a break from many things in my life and obviously what people in the public see is that I'm pulling away from what is more 'public'," she said.

"I didn't know how long it would take, I didn't know if it would solve anything, but I set out to really focus inside myself."