Success brings curbs for Jessica Gomes

Perth-raised model Jessica Gomes has garnered quite a following throughout Asia – so much so that the 29-year-old has hired her own security entourage to accompany her while travelling through Korea.

“I have security guards when I’m there,” she told InStyle magazine, out today. “Because I’ve been on TV – I did Dancing with the Stars there – people want to come and talk, have photos taken with me, poke me!”

Channelling boho chic in an edgy spring fashion shoot for InStyle’s November edition, Gomes was catapulted into modelling fame during her late teens, finding widespread success in Asia after featuring in a string of campaigns for LG, Samsung and Max Factor.

At 20, she moved to New York where she was based for six years, before returning to Australia to soak up the local opportunities.

“I feel so proud to be able to work here,” Gomes said. “Ten years ago, I would have said, ‘I probably won’t ever work in Australia’. Being Eurasian, I thought I’d be working permanently overseas in Asia or America.”

But the dark-haired beauty said she now embraces her womanly curves and exotic Eurasian heritage – her mother is Chinese and her father Portuguese – though in her younger years, she struggled to accept her looks.

“I’m now the most comfortable I’ve ever been with my body,” she said.

Having been based in Los Angeles with her partner, Australian property developer Sebastian Drapac, over the past year, Gomes has been using her time in the glitzy Californian city to explore acting.

“As a model, you need to have many facets,” she said.

via Success brings curbs for Gomes – The West Australian.