Photographed for WHO by Peter Brew-Bevan
Sophie Monk knows you know her dating history. From her busted engagements to Benji Madden and Jimmy Esebag to her flings with Jason Statham and Sam Worthington, the singer and actress has been through the relationship ringer — and she’s dissected them during her day job as a radio personality. “I look at the headlines and then look at the pictures and I’m like, ‘OK. I just know there’s going to be another story the next week or the week after, so it doesn’t affect me,” Monk, 37, tells WHO. “That’s why it was important to find someone on a show as well, because you want someone who can take it on.”
Now Monk’s search for a partner will begin on camera as she becomes Australia’s third Bachelorette. She sat down with WHO before the Ten series premieres on Sept. 20.
Q: Why did you decide to become the Bachelorette?
A: I was hoping to find love, but I didn’t think it would be this good. I didn’t go into this because it was a show. I went in going, “I’m going to find love,” so I wasn’t conscious of much except for that.
Q: Did you expect to cry very much?
A: No, and I did every day. I cry all the time in it. I think it’s just so heavy and emotional, you just have to roll with it, like, I just stopped apologising and started crying when I was sad if someone was leaving or anything.
Q: Yet you had been on a dating show before, the US program The Choice in 2012.
A: That was a one-day thing, and I got paid and I didn’t really care. I just chose whoever they wanted! This is like nothing I’ve done before because this is real. You’re really falling in love and really opening up. It’s not like acting or scripted television.
Q: Since your life and career has been on camera, is it fitting for you to have found love in this way?
A: It is for some reason because I’ve always been around camera for my entire life, and everything is so public. I love the way that it’s instantly public, too. All that pressure’s gone of “are you going to get caught?” So it just feels perfect.
Q: Most of the men, however, are not used to life in the public eye. Will they need to be aware of what life is like under the spotlight?
A: I think I want them to be; otherwise, they are going to take on a life they didn’t know they were going to take on, and I don’t think that’s fair because it is a lifestyle and it is my job. So yeah, I want them to know. I also just want someone who supports me and doesn’t think it’s that big of a deal and doesn’t want to gain from it as well.
Q: What does your family think of all of this?
A: Oh, they’re just happy if I’m happy. They just wanted me to find someone! It was so good, though, because they came on to the show and met him as well. He’s met my family already and then it ends up public, so it all works out.
Q: What can you say about your guy?
A: I found someone that is supportive of my career and that’s what I haven’t had. My exes have been competitive and they’ve wanted me to stop, or just have you there and not share you. So I feel like now I can balance both. I feel like I’ve found everything. He’s just awesome.
To read more from Sophie, including her breakdown of past relationships and her candid admission about love, pick up the latest issue of WHO on newsstands today.
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