Peter Andre returns to Australia ahead of his world movie premiere on the Gold Coast, Jafaican

Pop star and 1990s heart-throb Peter Andre returns to Australia’s Gold Coast for his debut film premiere - revealing why he’s kept his famed ‘Mysterious Girl’ six-pack under wraps for 30 years.

It’s three decades since Peter Andre and his six-pack stomach set pop charts alight - but nowadays the Mysterious Girl singer keeps his abs under wraps.

British-Australian pop sensation Peter Andre politely declined to show off his once-famous rig at a photo shoot on Wednesday, adding it had been “in hibernation” since the 90s, revealing: “I used to get picked on a lot at school because I was Greek and had the big nose, the curly hair – I used to hate my nose.

“Anytime someone wanted to take a photo I would turn so they couldn’t see my side profile. I’d grow my hair long in curtains so I could hide my face even more because I hated the way my face was.

Peter Andre is back on the Gold Coast for the World Premiere of his new feature film, Jafaican, at HOTA. Picture Glenn Hampson

“Then I became known as (the six pack). I never really told people I used to train my arse off so people would be looking at my body and wouldn’t concentrate on my face.”

The now UK resident - back on the Gold Coast where he went to school to promote his first feature film - said while in Los Angeles in his mid-twenties, he stumped across a picture of American actor Robert Downey Jr - and decided that was the nose for him.

“I went, ‘Oh my God - that’s the nose I want. So I took a picture of Robert Downey Jr. - along with a picture of my sister Debbie because she always had a perfect nose - to a surgeon and said ‘Can you do this?’

Singer Peter Andre 10 Oct 1996.

“He said, ‘I’m not a magician,’ but I had the operation and he got rid of all the bits I hated.”

The ex-Benowa High student said since then the shirt had stayed on for good.

“The very next video clip I did, I put my clothes back on and I never took them off ever again. I still train and look after myself, but to get into that shape, it’s so much effort and because I wasn’t so paranoid about my face, I didn’t care. I cut my hair shorter as well. Was the best thing I did.”

His first leading movie role in Jafaican has its world premiere at the Home of the Arts (HOTA).

“This is a proper pinch me moment,” he said.

The Friday Gold Coast Film Festival screening will be his feature film debut as a leading man ‘Gazza’, a small-time crook with a soft spot for his nan.

Desperate to raise money for her care, he launches a wild plan to get the money by impersonating a Jamaican national, with just 21 days to master the deception.

Fredi Nwaka and Peter Andre are on the Gold Coast for the World Premiere of their new feature film, Jafaican, at HOTA. Picture Glenn Hampson

British/Nigerian writer director Fredi Nwaka - who said US President Donald Trump’s threatened tariff on foreign-made movies “would never deter” him making movies overseas - said the comedy was infectious and would leave viewers smiling.

“We live in (a) world that is so serious man, it’s like people have forgotten how to laugh.

“We’ve forgotten how to smile and we’ve forgotten how to really leave the negative behind, even if it’s for a moment. Comedy allows us to escape from our everyday life. Laughter – that’s the most infectious thing.”

Originally published as Peter Andre returns to Australia ahead of his world movie premiere on the Gold Coast, Jafaican