Lara Bingle

By Ines Mendoza

Who is Lara Bingle? Where the bloody hell have you been? That's right, when thinking of stunning looking Australians making their mark on the world, one can't look past our official Ambassador...no, not John Howard - for no other reason than he would look terrible in a bikini. 

I'm talking about the delectable Sydney-sider and controversial tourism spokes model Lara Bingle.

The year is 1988 - a year in which Australia celebrated it's Bi-Centennial. The Winter Olympics opened in Canada, Sonny Bono pre-empted Schwarzenegger by being named Mayor of Palm Springs (California), Bruce Willis still had hair in Die Hard and Paul Hogan's Crocodile Dundee II stood as the 5th highest grossing film in the world taking in more than $300 million worldwide. 

And of course, the petite Lara Bingle entered quietly into the world in the now notorious town of Cronulla in Sydney.

Many throw around the term 'overnight success', but it rarely is the case. Actors and models generally struggle for years and years within the crux of a fast paced cutthroat industry - employed as wait staff as they embark on achieving their goals. However, by the age of 18 a young Ms. Bingle (who was rarely seen by a mass audience) became one of Australia's most recognisable figures thanks to being the lead spokeswoman in the Australian "Where The Bloody Hell Are You?" Tourism Ad.

But what is is about this girl that is making the world drool? For starters, what doesn't she have! From Great Barrier Reef blue eyes, to her golden locks of hair, her petite 33-24-33 measurements or simply the fact that this entire package comes in the convenient size of 5'6".

She may have once been voted by FHM as the World's 18th Sexiest Woman, but this smooth skinned youngster has already been involved in her fair share of controversy. She took men's magazine Zoo to court after her face (and body) appeared on the front cover of Zoo Weekly and featured in a beach shoot wearing five different bikinis in March of 2006. However, the sassy model claims she never approved the spread, which used revealing photographs taken 11 months earlier, when she was largely unknown. 

In addition to a breach of copyright, the model claims the magazine defamed her by implying she consented to pose in a G-string bikini for the magazine and other salacious claims.

And she hasn't been too shy when it comes to the lads either. As a presenter at the 2006 Logie Awards (Australia's Emmys), the talk of the bleary-eyed town were the rumours of a liaison between CSI star George Eades and our very own Lara Bingle. They were allegedly "all over each other" backstage prior to presenting an award together – that was until a Channel Nine staff member gently reminded the star yank that Bingle was merely 18 – more than 20 years his junior. Eades apparently backed off soon after. 

But it doesn't stop at American superstars for young Lara who has also been linked with NRL spunk Craig Wing - who is apparently just a text message buddy (yeah, and CSI star George Eades was merely "her co-presenter at the Logies"). There are also talks that Bingle's most recent mate - Chadwicks male model, Alex Bruszt - is a just childhood buddy, according to his agent. Bruszt and Bingle have been spotted on numerous occasions having coffee and a few ciggies at several cafe's in and around Cronulla. Whether there is anything in it or not, that's not to bad for a girl who claims she's "never had a boyfriend".

More recently the words 'Lara' and 'Bingle' have been closely related to two other words: 'home' and 'wrecker'. Having a short love affair with AFL football superstar Brendan Fevola - while he was married and with a child, we should add - has eroded most of the goodwill that the public had for the Aussie model. Bingle was dropped as the face of Australian tourism in January 2007 (replaced by the late Crocodile Hunter's daughter, Bindi Irwin) and will get a minor role in the new campaign.

Clearly having a thing for Australian sports stars, Lara Bingle has since publicly confirmed her relationship with cricket's NR-boy Michael Clarke. The next chapter in a long line of relationship hiccups, or something for the tomes of time?

But where to now? When you're a mega-star at 18 years old, where else can you go? Australia's Nine Network were believed to have signed up Bingle for various hosting roles (most likely Getaway, a la her fellow Aussie model Jenifer Hawkins and Sara O'Hare who have done the rounds on The Great Outdoors) but we've yet to see the fruits of this deal.

Perhaps she aims to continue to make headlines with the latest ads for Cockatoo wineries which features Bingle and the slogan "She Loves A Cockatoo".... does she?

Love her or hate her (or even if you've seen the infamous "Fevola" photo), this gorgeous young Aussie' isn't likely to fade away just yet. And very soon the question we may all be asking ourselves is "Where the bloody hell isn't she!".

Source: Unknown Photography: Unknown	Source: Unknown Photography: Unknown
Source: Unknown Photography: Unknown	Source: Unknown Photography: Unknown