Aysha Mehajer: From Wollongong girl to a Muslim glamour
THOSE who recall Aysha Mehajer from her teen years remember a petite size eight figure and a fierce passion for beauty therapy and transformation.
THOSE who remember Aysha Mehajer from her teen years remember a tiny red head with freckles, a petite size eight figure and a fierce passion for her work — beauty therapy and personal transformation.
They recall the wife of Auburn’s controversial Deputy Mayor Salim Mehajer having an entirely different name — April Amelia Learmonth — as she grew up in the suburbs of Wollongong.
Back then the south coast teen, who signed up to a one-year beauty therapy course at the Illawarra College of Beauty Therapy at the age of 16, was less the traffic stopper she is now — a woman for whom property developer Mehajer has risked his position as a councillor and prompted the Baird government to demand a full report into the closure of a Lidcombe street for the couple’s extraordinary $50 million wedding motorcade at the weekend.
Tracey Rovere, former principal of the Illawarra College of Beauty Therapy, who trained “April”, said she could not believe the transformation since the young woman graduated.
“I don’t recognise her but I think mostly anyone who knew her back then wouldn’t recognise her now. She was this tiny little thing with a tiny little personality. It was probably 2004 or 2005 when she graduated.
“She had just come out of high school the year before. Her hair was straight and red and then, for graduation night, she surprised us all by going and getting this amazing spray tan that concealed her freckles and had her hair lightened to strawberry blonde. She had this total Cinderella moment,” said Ms Rovere.
HOW WE MADE THE ‘WEDDING DRESS OF THE YEAR’
SALIM MEHAJER LAUGHS OFF ALL THE CRITICISM
INVESTOR ANGER AT SALIM’S PROPERTY DEVELOPMENT
THE MEHAJERS’ PLASTIC TRANSFORMATION
It would not be Ms Learmonth’s last “Cinderella moment”.
In May, calling herself Aysha Mehajer, though still unmarried, she was proclaimed Miss Personality Miss Lebanon Australia — a title that may have surprised her parents.
Her father John Learmonth, a fair-haired Urunga newsagent, was not inclined to say when The Daily Telegraph spoke to him yesterday but confirmed with trembling voice he walked her down the aisle for her Muslim ceremony.
“(Salim) is more than any father could ask for — he loves her and looks after her, what more could I ask.” She is believed to have converted to Islam six years ago.
SALIM MEHAJER WANTS TO BE THE NEXT SUPERSTAR
‘AYSHA LOOKS NOTHING LIKE THE APRIL WE KNEW’
WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT THE DEPUTY MAYOR
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