Miss Universe Australia Olivia Rogers wants to be a role model of health and happiness
MISS Universe Australia Olivia Rogers opens up about her struggle with depression and “disordered eating” in a bid to help others.
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CELEBRATING being crowned Miss Universe Australia with a glass of champagne and a Big Mac, Adelaide’s Olivia Rogers is opening up about her struggle with depression and “disordered eating” in a bid to help others.
Still in shock over her “bizarre” win – “I think it will take probably the whole year to sink in” – the 25-year-old speech pathologist, artist and model is the first to admit she’s the girl most unlikely.
That’s because six years ago, Ms Rogers turned her back on the modelling industry after admitting to herself that she was not in a good place.
Adelaide-born, Ms Rogers admits she put on “post-divorce weight” after her parents Nicky Klemich and Dr Mark Rogers split when she was eight and the middle child to siblings Eleanor and Oscar, and later a big half-sister to Jack and Harriet after her father remarried.
“I struggled with confidence and I was probably bad at ball sports because I was so scared to put myself out there and scared of failing,” she said, adding. “I have always put a lot of pressure on myself to do well academically and I was focusing on that.”
After confiding in Nicky about her feelings, she began walking and in senior school discovered rowing.
“That really helped me come out of my shell a bit, but even still when I first got approached by a modelling agency I thought it was a joke because I was so insecure and so self-conscious,” she said.
Scouted when she was completing Year 12 at Seymour College, Ms Rogers ended up deferring her speech pathology course at Flinders University to move to Sydney and model full-time.
“I didn’t really love that. I didn’t like not using my brain and I felt very objectified ... it’s quite a harsh environment to be in,” she said.
Under pressure to be thin from her Sydney agency, where her measurements were taken each time she visited, Ms Rogers knew she was in trouble when her weight dropped to 49kg.
“For my height (173cm) that’s just not OK and it was all to look good in a photo and for what ... I wasn’t happy,” she said.
Ms Rogers doesn’t believe she was suffering from an eating disorder, but “disordered eating”.
“It’s when you think about (eating) too much and you think ‘I need to exercise because I’m eating this’ which I think a lot of girls do ... I definitely had that. It was consuming me,” she said.
Recognising she was not in a healthy environment and that she was also struggling with depression, by the time she turned 20 Ms Rogers had returned to South Australia and her studies.
“I think I pulled back from the industry just in time and when I moved back to Adelaide and said ‘Oh my God, I am never modelling again’ ... I think I was lucky that I did that.”
Back home she rediscovered modelling, this time representing herself and found that was a good fit for her and her belief that being happy and healthy was more important than achieving a certain look.
“It was so not worth it and that is the message that I want to spread to young girls ... that you all look at these amazing girls on Instagram and aspire to be like that, but everybody’s different and everyone has a different body shape,” she said, adding that she wants them to also know that “walking on stage in a bikini is my biggest nightmare.”
Describing herself as “South Australian through and through”, Ms Rogers moved to Melbourne two months ago for love. “I did feel like a little bit of a traitor moving straight after state finals, but I didn’t expect to get through,” she said.
She is also happy to disclose that she met her boyfriend Andrew Pretto, who works in commercial construction, through a dating app.
“I was in Melbourne for a photoshoot and we met on Tinder,” she said. “I wouldn’t go on it in Adelaide because everybody knows everyone.”
While the two “swiped each other” they didn’t meet until he came to Adelaide to visit his cousin.
“I didn’t think he would be very nice. I thought he is very attractive and I thought he would be really arrogant, but he was absolutely lovely and he started coming back to Adelaide very regularly and everyone was like ‘Ooh, he really likes his cousin’,” she laughed, adding the two dated long-distance for 18 months.
Mr Pretto, also 25, said he was incredibly proud of Ms Rogers who was “very nervous” before the Miss Universe Australia grand final at Melbourne’s Sofitel Hotel. The two celebrated her win with bubbles and Big Macs.
“It was such a whirlwind, just a really exciting night ... I was always confident she’d do well,” he said. “She made me so proud last night, not just me but her family and her state and the country as well.
“She takes everything in her stride and she’ll handle this with aplomb. Obviously it will have its challenges because it’s so non-stop but I have no doubt that she’ll be fantastic in the role and representing Australia.”
The last SA woman to win Miss Universe Australia, Laura Csortan, has warned Ms Rogers the competition can be a “gruelling” experience.
But Ms Csortan, who won the title in 1997, said the global event was a great opportunity for international exposure and would also help put South Australia “on the map”.
“It’s so exciting, I was so thrilled to hear a local girl won the title, and I was the last one – how crazy,” she said.
“It opened a lot of doors for me ... there will be a lot of opportunities, social events, travel, it’ll certainly be a dream come true if that’s what you want to pursue in life. There will be a lot of offers, endorsements and opportunities coming her way, goodness knows there’s so many reality shows now, she could be asked to be on one of those.
“She’s also representing South Australia, it’s huge for the state. It sort of puts us on the map within that field anyway. She should be very proud.”
But, for now, Ms Rogers is finding her new-found fame “bizarre”, especially the suggestions that she, like Jennifer Hawkins in 2004, could go on to take out the world title of Miss Universe.
“It’s so weird. When I first entered this my grandma said to me ‘move over, Jen’ and I was like ‘No, don't say that’,” she said. “It’s very, very surreal. I think Jen is incredible and she’s a massive role model as well. She just continues to soar. It’s very weird to be on the same sort of path as she was back them.”
BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL
Full name: Olivia Molly Rogers.
Born: March 17, 1992 in Adelaide.
Lives: Melbourne.
Education: St Andrew’s School Walkerville, Seymour College, Flinders University.
Occupation: Speech pathologist, artist and model.
Relationship status: In a relationship with boyfriend Andrew Pretto.
Favourite Adelaide haunt: Argo on The Parade.
Role Models: Nutritionist Jessica Sepel and her late grandparents Patricia and Maurice Klemich.
Olivia Rogers on what it means to be ..
A woman
For me being a woman shouldn’t define your place in life. I think in this day and age, and in our country, that we have the freedom to be whoever we want to be, whether it be feisty, sassy,
funny, intelligent, sexy, introverted, extroverted, whoever you want. For me it means staying true to yourself and living life the way you want to, not the way you think you should.
Miss Universe Australia
It’s being a role model and using my voice for things that I am passionate about and hopefully helping young women in the process – and young men maybe – and also just having a good time.
In the running to be crowned Miss Universe 2018
It would mean the world to me. I absolutely love Australia. I love being an Australian. I love going overseas and speaking to people and straight away they are like ‘oh my gosh, are you Australian?’ ... that’s amazing. Everyone loves Australians, so be able to represent my country in that way would be incredible. I just hope that I can do our country proud.
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