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Hitting the headlines

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Gemma Ward’s comeback plan

After a reclusive few years, our favourite supermodel is getting her life on track again, reports Siobhan McFadyen

She was left utterly devastated when Heath Ledger died and has barely been seen in public since. But Gemma Ward is slowly emerging from her self-imposed seclusion and beginning to find happiness again.

Last week she went out with friends to celebrate her 22nd birthday in New York’s East Village, where she lives in a $1.7 million apartment.

After months of refusing invitations, she is finally beginning to socialise again, dressing up as a “crazed Elvis fan” for a Halloween party and joining friends for a low-key brunch at the hip Gemma restaurant at The Bowery Hotel near her home.

At 16, Perth-born Gemma became the youngest-ever model to land the cover of US Vogue, and by the beginning of last year had amassed a $3 million fortune from contracts with Balenciaga and Hermès.

She had also announced plans to retire from modelling in favour of an acting career, and won acclaim for her film role in The Black Balloon.

Gemma had also allegedly begun a passionate romance with Heath, and his sudden death in January 2008 plunged her into deep grief.

“It hit her like a train,” says a close friend of the model. “The grief almost paralysed her. She was so young to lose someone in that way and she just couldn’t deal with it.”

Refusing all offers of work, Gemma was dealt another blow when pictures of her on Byron Beach were published earlier this year showing her with a womanly fuller figure. She then pulled out of a charity gig in New York after learning TV cameras would be there, and for months ignored the pleas of her agent, family and friends to start working again.

“Gemma was devastated when those pictures appeared,” says the friend.

“People forget how young she is…it was a serious blow to her self-esteem when she was still grieving for Heath.

“It’s only in the last couple of months that she’s begun to be herself again and start to talk about working and going out. We’re finally getting glimpses of the old Gemma.

She doesn’t know if she wants to model again but she’s keen to act and get into shape...”

Buy Grazia magazine on sale now for the full story.

After struggling to come to terms with Heath’s death, Perth-born model Gemma was out and about with friends enjoying her 22nd birthday in Manhattan, rocking a vintage look. Image: Phil Poynter.

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Nicole Kidman admits some ‘strange sexual fetish stuff’

She was famously silent after the break-up of her 10-year marriage to Tom Cruise, but now Nicole Kidman has opened up more than ever before in a revealing new interview with the UK’s GQ magazine.

“I’ve explored obsession. I’ve explored loss and love in terms of being in a grief-stricken place, I’ve explored strange sexual fetish stuff, I’ve explored the mundane aspect of marriage, and monogamy,” says Kidman.

Disappointingly for all those who are curious about what exactly the 42-year-old actress means by “strange sexual fetish stuff”, she doesn’t elaborate. She does however elaborate on her current marriage to country music star Keith Urban.
‘You work on it,’ she said to GQ. ‘It’s a very extraordinary, adventurous place to be: incredibly raw, incredibly dangerous and you’re very much out at sea. You're exposed. You could drown.”

And on her instant fame on marrying Hollywood heavyweight Tom Cruise after meeting on the set of Days of Thunder in 1990, Kidman says:
“I know my agents at the time were like, ‘Do not get married! It will ruin your career!’ and I was like, “But I’m in love”. All I know is that I wasn’t someone interested in fame. And that’s not why I got married. I wanted to work with people who intrigued me.”

Kidman will next appear in the musical Nine alongside Sophia Loren, Penelope Cruz, Judi Dench, Marion Cotillard and Kate Hudson, her first foray into film after the birth of daughter Sunday Rose with husband Keith Urban last year.

Nicole Kidman's GQ cover (above) and Kidman with husband Keith Urban at the U.S Open earlier this year (below). Image: Getty.

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Inside sweat lodge HELL

Physically and mentally exhausted, Beverley Bunn crawled to a spot near the opening of the sweat lodge, gasping for fresh air. People around her began calling out for help, some struggling to breathe, others vomiting amid the stifling heat.

This is the first horrifying account of what went on during the $10,000 retreat run by spiritual guru James Arthur Ray, which left three people dead and a further 18 in hospital.

Beverley, 43, says after five days of enduring sleep deprivation, fasting and mind-altering exercises, more than 50 “followers” of Ray entered the lodge, which was basically a 6 x 6m tent, in Sedona, Arizona on October 8.

Packed in to the pitch-black hut, Beverley says it was midway through the two-hour cleansing ceremony that people began calling out for help. She told Associated Press how she heard one person say: “I can’t get her to move, I can’t get her to wake up.”

A man yelling, “I can’t take it, I can’t breathe, I can’t do this”, lifted the back of the tent and crawled out.

Yet even as people showed signs of difficulties, Ray encouraged them to stay, Beverley claims, adding the tent was poorly ventilated, participants were dehydrated and adequate medical assistance wasn’t on hand.

Kirby Brown, 38, and James Shore, 40, died at the scene. Liz Neuman, 49, passed away in hospital nine days later. Fellow participant Sidney Spencer, 59, was airlifted to hospital suffering multiple organ failure. Her lawyer Ted Schmidt says: “If this sweat lodge had been conducted properly, nobody would have been injured, but it was reckless how they handled this…”

Buy Grazia magazine on sale now for the full story.

The Angel Valley Spiritual Retreat Centre in Arizona, above. Image: AAP.

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Lindsay's fashion dream in tatters

She’s blamed Ungaro for her Paris disaster – now the label is preparing to ditch her.

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Miranda: I don’t want girls to think they have to look like me

In the face of controversy, Miranda talks exclusively about body image, diets and how even she has insecurities (just like the rest of us)

When we decided to shoot Miranda Kerr in a swimsuit, we had no idea it would hit headlines worldwide and spark a fevered debate about her size.

“Shockingly thin” said the UK’s Daily Mail, while The Daily Telegraph here declared she was “virtually unrecognisable” in paparazzi pictures taken from our day with her.

Click here for Grazia TV’s exclusive behind-the-scenes video with Miranda Kerr

Speculation focused on the theory that the 26-year-old lost a drastic amount of weight to fit into tiny sample size clothes for the Balenciaga show at Paris Fashion Week.

The truth? Certainly Miranda is slimmer than she was when she last sat down with us in August. But she still has an enviable figure – and a level-headed attitude to all the controversy.

“The exaggerated poses for the shoot have made me appear thinner than normal from behind, but I am the same weight and measurements I have maintained for more than three years,” she insists.

“I am conscious of not only maintaining but promoting a healthy lifestyle and I wouldn’t be able to sustain the hectic nature of my modelling commitments if I wasn’t 100 per cent committed to feeding my body the food, vitamins and minerals it needs.”

Behind-the-scenes shots of Miranda Kerr’s Grazia cover shoot

So, does she ever feel insecure about the way she looks?

“Every day I am changing and growing and nobody’s perfect. We all have our insecurities. That’s normal.”

But how does she cope with the constant pressure from the industry to be super-slim, especially for her Balenciaga debut, a label known for employing the thinnest of the thin?

“As women, we can’t compare ourselves because we’re each beautiful in our own unique way,” she says.

“And that’s what I’m passionate about – trying to encourage young women to embrace themselves – especially because I am in the fashion world and I really don’t want girls to think they have to look like me. I want them to nurture themselves and really be the best they can be.”

But the David Jones ambassador admits that her rising international profile is taking its toll.

As well as Miranda’s modelling commitments she is also launching her own organic skincare range, Kora (available exclusively at David Jones on October 26), and she’s written a book, due out later this year, about health and nutrition.

“I work six days a week, 15 hours a day – and that’s not a joke,” she says. “I’m generally in two different countries a week. And anyone else who had my schedule would probably fall apart. To be honest with you, it’s really, really intense. People don’t realise the extent of how hard I work, because they see it as just glitz and glamour. At the same time I am so grateful for it all, but it doesn’t give me a lot of downtime...”

Buy Grazia magazine onsale now for the full story.

Miranda (above) wears Jets by Jessika Allen one-piece, $155 (David Jones, 13 33 57) and below in Speedo bodyskin, $400 (1800 023 807); Peter Lang earrings, $179, from a selection at David Jones (13 33 57). Photographs by Georges Antoni. Styling by Mark Vassallo.

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Lindsay rushed to hospital

A nightmare week for Lindsay Lohan in Paris ended with an emergency hospital visit after she claimed she cut herself while trying to open a bottle of wine, Grazia can reveal.

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Tom calls the fashion police on Katie

Who hasn’t wanted to have a word with Katie Holmes about her fashion choices? And in the November issue of US Elle magazine, the 30-year-old actress reveals that husband Tom Cruise is first in line when it comes to critiquing her style.

"He usually likes everything, but sometimes I'll walk out and he'll say, 'I think that dress might be wearing you. You don't need that,'" Holmes told Elle. But it seems she doesn’t mind. "Tom has great taste," she continues.

So who are the designers she does like to wear? “I love Alaïa, for sure. Stella McCartney. I like Ralph Lauren because I feel like it’s very American, and I’m pretty all-American, from Ohio. Isabel Marant and a new designer, Sari Gueron.”

And what’s up for Katie next after she completes filming Don’t Be Afraid Of The Dark in Melbourne? “I even like vampire movies – they just have to be well done,” she reveals. Katie for Twilight? Yes, please!! We’d love to see her dark side!

Pick up next week’s Grazia, on sale October 12, to find out why Katie Holmes has been dressing down

Katie, Tom and Suri out for a day in Boston (above) and Katie's US Elle magazine cover (below). Image: Getty.

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Lady GaGa: the comic

If anyone lends themselves perfectly to starring in a comic book it’s Lady GaGa – and it’s her new pal Marc Jacobs (she made a guest performance at his after-party), who’s made it a reality. You can pick up the quirky graphic novel by artist Brian Einersen for just US$2 at any Marc Jacobs store. And with the cover promising YSL, Dior and St. John inside, this looks like a must-read – not to mention instant GaGa collectible.

Take a look back at some of Lady GaGa’s best looks from the runway

Lady GaGa wearing customised new season Marc Jacobs and new S/S 10 Alexander Wang sunglasses (left) and Lady GaGa: the comic (right). Image: Getty.

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The provocative army

The eyes of the fashion world may be transfixed on New York this week, but it looks as though London is vying for a little attention too. Surprised shoppers who happened to be on the city's most infamous shopping thoroughfare, Oxford Street, yesterday witnessed a troop of fierce-looking lingerie-clad models. Prowling the pavements, the marching glamazons were decked out in eye-catching thigh-high boots, aviators and caps.

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Nicole: I blame myself for Adam's death

A heavily pregnant Nicole Richie was at home playing with her 19-month-old daughter Harlow when she received the devastating phone call that would rock her world for the second time in as many months.

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