If social media is to be believed Gemma Ward's return to modelling was akin to the Second Coming of Christ. Now the Perth-born model is back in her comfort zone - on the cover of a magazine.
From Monday, expect to see 35 faces of Ward staring out at you from news stands as she graces the July issue of Elle Australia. The cover is a special gaming style initiative spearheaded by editor-in-chief Justine Cullen.
An Australian publishing first, the glossy will be a "lift-and-flip" edition allowing readers to mix and match five different beauty looks on one model.
Ward was chosen for her unmistakable and striking look; a look that disappeared from the public arena in 2008 when she took a hiatus from modelling following the death of close friend Heath Ledger.
She left at the top of her game being the youngest model ever to front Vogue and was welcomed back into the fashion community with open arms six years later on the catwalk at Prada's 2015 spring-summer show.
She was 20 when she took a sabbatical, something she felt was a necessity in order to escape the pressures of aging in an industry where youth is queen.
"It wasn't a choice to stop, it was like I needed to stop, I actually couldn't go on. But I also was very sure of what I needed to do," she said.
"There was a time when I stopped auditioning, I stopped doing anything, and I just wrote, and practised music, because I felt like I needed to have a focus on my voice rather than my image - that was actually really healing. For me, it helped.
"And I wanted to focus on things I could develop and get better at because for a period of time I had people telling me, 'You've got to do this when you're young', 'Your looks are going to fade', 'You're not going to get better'. Like, you hit your teenage years and everything goes downhill - it's kind of horrible to think."
During her time out of the spotlight she dabbled in acting and ticked off many things from her bucket list including trekking Nepal and visiting an ashram in India. She also fell in love with photographer David Letts and had a baby. The family now reside in Byron Bay.
Ward is now focusing on getting back into the swing of things but admits baby number two may be coming soon.
"I do want another baby so that's one consideration, but I definitely am going to put myself out there a lot more in the coming years," she said.
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