Despite her signature self-deprecating sense of humour, there’s no clowning around or tumbles when Sophie steps in front of our cameras, so it’s easy to see how she’s topped endless ‘Sexiest People’ lists and graced many magazine covers.
But beauty wasn’t always the case for the 41-year-old actress. “I was never the popular girl,” she reveals.
“I was friendly with everyone at high school because I was funny and had that goofy personality, but I wasn’t in that cool-girl clique. I remember, I used to cheat off the geeks a lot, until they started realising that. Then, they all started putting their arms up to cover their answers – too smart for me!” she says, revealing she, like so many others, ran into bullying troubles.
“I think once I hit hormones, I got quite curvy … I was a dancer and I got picked on by boys … that’s what they do at that age,” she muses.
"I was actually very sensitive at school, I took on people’s emotions too much, and would go home and worry and not sleep. I think that’s where I developed my sense of humour and why I learnt to be funny,” she explains.
One boy who certainly has Sophie’s tick of approval is her fiancé, Joshua Gross.
“We’re definitely opposites, but it works!” she confesses of her partner, who she met on a chance encounter during a flight to Los Angeles in 2018.
“He’s very, very book smart and retains knowledge. I’m definitely not book smart, I promise you. I’m not joking …I don’t even read!” she laughs.
“I don’t have to – I somehow got away with having a career where I don’t have to, and now at my age, it’s not going to happen.”
While fans shouldn’t expect to see Josh and Sophie reading together, they are headed for the chapel, with the couple confirming their engagement in January after months of rumours.
“We’re a good team,” tells Sophie, who reveals they love nothing more than jumping into their slippers and playing virtual reality video games at home together – a side most might not expect of the star.
“It’s hard for me to tell what people think of me because I don’t get out enough!” she quips. “I feel like I read a lot of bad comments online, but I love everybody,” she tells, insisting while she might not be everybody’s cup of tea, she’s always herself.
“Good or bad, if I’m myself, I don’t have to pretend or apologise – that’s how I do things anyway.”
Read more in this week's issue of New Idea, on sale now.
