Megan Gale on launching homewares range for Target and her role in Mad Max: Fury Road

MODEL, designer and actor Megan Gale is now turning her hand to homewares. The 39-year-old talks about motherhood, her role in Mad Max: Fury Road and her dream of being a Bond girl.

Home Shop Megan Gale Products form Megan Gale's new collection for Target

MODEL, designer and actor Megan Gale is now turning her hand to homewares. The 39-year-old talks about motherhood, her role in Mad Max: Fury Road and her dream of being a Bond girl.

Exciting news: you’re launching a homewares collection for Target. Where did you draw your inspiration?

The inspiration stemmed from my travels – the beautiful hotel rooms, lobby bars and day spas.

I picked a few key cities, some of my favourite places, and tried to interpret them in the design of the collection.

You’ve joined the likes of Dion Lee and Dannii Minogue in doing a range for Target – do you feel any pressure to prove yourself as a designer?

Gale is leading a very busy lifestyle, juggling motherhood with her acting and designing. Picture Craig Greenhill

I think you’ve got to make an impact.

They are great names to stand alongside within the Target family, so I just want to keep that calibre up and not let the team down.

How involved were you in the actual design process?

Super-involved.

I think that’s very important when you’re lending your name to something; you can’t just whack it on there and expect it to take care of itself.

I’m a self-confessed perfectionist and I was across every single bit of detail, from the packaging to the font and the colour of the font.

Does being such a perfectionist apply to your own home, too? Are you messy or clean?

I’m pretty clean, but sometimes things can get a bit disorganised.

That’s a ripple effect from travelling, unpacking suitcases, repacking them and having a one-year-old.

With River [Gale’s son with Richmond AFL player boyfriend, Shaun Hampson], there’s constantly washing happening.

It’s amazing how fast a little kid can churn through clothes.

Do you make your bed every morning?

Yes, that’s rule number one.

I always like to make my bed, and I arrange my scatter cushions.

My boyfriend, much like every other boyfriend in the country, is like, “What purpose do they serve? Why are they there?” I like them, they’re pretty and they help support my back when I’m sitting up in bed.

Gale with some of her new homewares products.

Yes, I need 10 of them on the bed, thank you very much.

Potentially more! Men don’t get cushions.

That’s probably one of my missions for this range: I want to get men on board with cushions [laughs].

Who’s the chief decorator then, you or Shaun?

He trusts my judgement and he’s open to my ideas, so we don’t battle about that.

He’s got a man cave, with his guitars and his home theatre.

So that’s where he spends his spare time – not that either of us has spare time now we’re parents.

Did your styling change when you became a mum?

Knowing I had a baby on the way, I kept things neutral and minimalistic.

You want it to be a fun zone for your child, but I’m a big believer in not having children’s stuff throughout the house.

But it can happen, it’s like weeds; it just spreads through the house.

I read that on your first day of filming Mad Max: Fury Road, you had to perch naked in an abandoned water tower in the freezing cold. Did you ever just think, “Um, yeah, acting’s not for me!”?

[Laughs] “What did I sign up for?” No, I knew about that scene.

I didn’t know that it would be the morning of day one.

It was meant to be day three.

But it wasn’t like I arrived on set and they said, “Oh, by the way, you’re nude.”

Where would you draw the line when it comes to acting?

Anything where I could get seriously injured.

There’s one scene [in Mad Max] where my character falls off her motorbike and has to roll out of the way of oncoming traffic, and I actually did that.

Now, I would take more time to consider my safety because of my son.

He relies on me so much.

I want to be there for him and I want to be able-bodied and in his life for as long as possible.

What’s your dream role?

I’ve always had a thing for Bond films and Bond girls.

I love the franchise; I’ve watched every movie.

The MG Australia homewares collection is in Target stores on September 10.