Hello Gina, congrats on your MAXIM cover. How do you feel?
I feel very flattered because it’s a unique particular profile to do something like this. It’s been great working with MAXIM, so thank you, I feel very privileged.
PLEASURE. Being your first men’s mag shoot were you apprehensive AT ALL?
I was a little bit hesitant, and also felt a bit modest, because I didn’t want to go too raunchy. You guys have really managed to capture me as a woman and it looks sexy, sophisticated and glamorous. I love it.
How do you think the media will react to this shoot?
Well, it’s definitely a different side to me that people haven’t seen, so the media will get a hold of it and my fans will… well, there’s certainly a wow factor there.
What did your two sons say when you told them?
I don’t think I told them, but I had done a sort of sexy glamour shoot a couple years ago where I’m wearing a short skirt and it’s quite booby, and when I showed them they said, “Awww, Mum.” So, I think this time around they”ll be fine.
You’ve been described as intelligent, stylish, witty and feisty. Accurate?
Well, I’m probably more modest. I wouldn’t go, “Oh look at me” sort of thing but I’d agree with intelligence, I think i’m stylish and probably witty and a bit feisty too. So yeah, I’d probably describe myself in a similar way. I’m also loyal, fun and very open-minded. I’m not particularly judgmental.
For those who don’t know a lot about you, give us a little background info.
Well, I grew up in an Italian family and my mother and father separated when I was very young — I was 15, in Year 11 at school, and was faced with a lot of very adult decisions. I came home from school one day my mother had packed up the house and left. My father left when I was 12. So, I was on my own but living with my two sisters.”
How did you manage?
I sat down with the head mistress at the school, she was a nun, and said to her, “Well, I don’t know what I’m going to do now. Maybe I’ll become a street kid and make some money that way.” I remember watching her eyelids flapping thinking, “Am I actually hearing this from this poor girl?!” I thought, “You know what,
f—k it. This is my life, I’m going to do law.” It was my rebellion. I didn’t get straight into law because the odds were stacked against me the following year — I had no-one cooking a meal, no money, I was starving… I had people in the milk bar around the corner feeding me!
Really?!
Yeah, the lady working in the pharmacy would give me certain things a girl needs, I had these guys, who lived around the corner who would pick me up and drive me to school and buy me lunch. The bus drivers all knew I was on my own so if they saw me they’d take me to my door step and not charge a fare — it was really quite amazing. And I was living in Bayside Brighton, which is a wealthy suburb in Victoria, so I wasn’t exactly out in the middle of nowhere.
What was home life like?
Living with my sisters — one was 17 and the other 18 — they just partied a lot. I’d come home from school and there would be someone asleep in my bed, because they’d partied all night and crashed. I’m like, “Who the f—k is in my bed?”
So… is this what made you want to study law?
Originally I wanted to study medicine and was working very hard at school. I was quite studious, but also a bit naughty. I was probably one of the really naughty kids yet friends with everyone. I used to wag school and smoke in the toilets. I was cheeky, played tricks, swore and wasn’t always as ladylike as they’d want me to be. I was a bit rebellious but part of my rebellion was making sure when I grew up no-one could run rings around me. I had this fierceness about me being OK in the world. I put it down to having a career in order to achieve it. So, I decided to study law, that’s how I arrived as a Barrister, but my life so far has been a tremendous journey.
For the full article grab the May 2016 issue of MAXIM, in stores from April 21 to May 19.
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