Of all the Star Of The Month interviews I’ve done, I was the most nervous for this one. Not only is Laura Whitmore a great presenter, an inspiring role model and a gorgeous Irish blonde but she’s a fashionista and a really genuine person too. Before I interview Laura I realize I am interviewing a presenter who’s interviewed the likes of George Clooney, The Script and Kylie Minogue… am I way out of my depth? Well all my nerves disappeared the moment I spoke with Laura, she’s seriously down to earth and spoke to me like a friend rather than a stranger. Everything got easier from here on out.
The first question I ask the 25-year-old Bray born beauty is how did she get to where she is today? Laura admits that as a teenager she loved drama and wanted to pursue acting, but was told she needed to get a ‘real job’. Although she thought Degree's in the likes of business might be the right road for her, Laura eventually went with her heart:
“When I was younger I was interested in the whole media world. I was always in to drama and I wrote for a local paper when I was in secondary school. I loved watching Superman, I always wanted to be Louis Lane. But it all came down to my CAO form I had business and forensics down but I did a last change of mind form and decided on Journalism in DCU. I realised that’s what I really wanted to do”.
Three years ago Laura a competition that would change her life and give her opportunities she never thought she would have. She heard on the radio that MTV was looking for a new presenter and the bubbly blonde decided to try out for the role of a life-time:
“I had literally just graduated from my four year journalism course. I was working for Newstalk and one night at like midnight I heard on MTV that they were looking for a new presenter. I thought I was dreaming but the next day I found out it was real and I applied by uploading a video to My Space,"
The talented young star, who clearly doesn't realize how she won over the TV's giggles and says:
"The video was s**t, I don’t even know how I got through with it. But I got a call two months later saying I was in the final one hundred.”
It’s clear that the music enthusiast had something special that MTV could not ignore. Laura beat hundreds of other girls to the role everyone wanted: the new MTV news presenter. However, she admits to me, that honestly, she didn't think she would get that far in the competition:
“I’ve always believed that if you have a dream you should follow it. There is nothing you can’t do if you really want it bad enough. I didn’t think I would win, I just thought I would get to a level where I was in the studios and I could meet a few people. But I’ve always been quite ambitious, I knew I’d get somewhere with it”
I ask Laura what’s the secret to her success. There are tonnes of TV and radio competitions run every year but no one has the longevity that she has. In an assertive tone she tells me; to succeed in this business you have to keep a level head:
“You can do well from making good contacts, even meeting people in the business like actors and musicians. But you can’t take yourself too seriously. I think a lot of people think they are way bigger than they really are but you have to remember this is the job you want to do, you have to be good at it, you have to make sure you are always working to the highest standard. You have to have a good attitude and be surrounded by good people”
Although some would think Laura has an easy breezy life, she admits that facing a day of interviews after a night of attending parties is anything but easy, but when you are interviewing the hottest new bands and the most famous actors, I’m sure it’s not the end of the world!
“I’ve always been really enthusiastic and well-motivated. I don’t believe in ‘hard’ work at all. I mean I don’t mind the long hours, that’s all part of it but I think people think it’s more glamorous than it really is. Once you realize it’s not that glamorous and just get on with it that’s when your work pays off”
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| Laura and The Script |
And when the hard work pays off it really really does for Laura! She’s had the chance to interview some of the most famous people in the world. So I ask her, which ones were her favourite:
“ I was co-hosting a show for ITV 2 and Teenage Cancer Trust this year and I got to do an interview with Oasis singer Noel Gallagher, I knew he never does that many interviews so that was pretty cool. He’s such a great musician and the programme was for such a worthy cause. I’ve also interviewed a lot of Hollywood actors like Michael Caine was great and so was George Clooney, Jack Black too. Sometimes it’s the people you don’t expect that are the best.”
Laura admitted that although she’s not a huge fan of her music anymore, she “got a kick out of interviewing” Kylie Minogue
“Everyone has been really nice. But they need you as much as you need them so fortunately they are as nice to you as they are to them. I think sometimes bands can be uncomfortable with the whole set up and sometimes that can be a little bit harder. One person that was interesting to interview was Marilyn Manson, he is so funny, so eccentric and so rude. He’s a dirty mouth on him, I’m well able for it though!”
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| Laura and Katy Perry |
Before my interview with the Irish bombshell I had read that she was planning to return to Ireland in the future and lend her presenting talents to Irish TV networks. But Laura said that was just a rumor and for now she’s staying put in London and continuing with MTV:
“ Right now I live in London and I love my job with MTV. I take each step as it comes. For me, there would be no point in going back to Ireland now, there is no job for me there.”
Although Laura might not be moving TV channels I ask her would she consider switching career. It’s clear that the star is seriously muti-talented as she has already launched her own fashion line with Irish high-street chain A-Wear and has become the face for ROC cosmetics. Is there another path she wants to explore? Laura says she thinks she will stick to TV for now:
“I love television. I also love radio, I’d like to go back to radio and I don’t think there’s a reason why you can’t do it all. And I love writing as well. I think it’s all about challenging myself. I don’t expect to be on MTV forever. It’s a young people’s station and I won’t be young forever! I think it’s so exciting there are lots of new opportunities coming my way now. Maybe in 5 years time there’ll be a job for me that doesn’t exist now”.
Although fashion isn’t her main career, she certainly smashes her style. Every day we watch Laura delivering the latest news and she pairs it with the latest fashion trends, also starting trends on her own. But believe it or not, Laura says that there are no stylists or make-up artists in MTV, so everything you see on her was selected by her (wow right?). Laura says a lot of her work involves being on the road and attending festivals so there isn’t that much time for fashion. Well I think I speak for everyone when I say she looks dam hot for a girl who doesn’t have a stylist! Laura says her top fashion tip is to choose comfort over style:
“The most important thing, for me, is to be comfortable with what your wearing. I don’t want to be interviewing someone and having you top sticking in to me. I really am not that paranoid that I’m on TV, I just wear what I’m comfortable in”
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| Laura's 'Impulse Range' for A-Wear |
Being on TV five days a week may pile on the pressure but Laura has been noticed for her youthful fashion sense and her eye for stand-out styles. This eye was notice by Fashion chain A-Wear and Laura was asked to design her own line for the company. The line named the 'Impulse Range' was a massive hit in Ireland, and with stores in the UK now, A-Wear has become a top high-street label. Laura admits that she was asked by a few different Fashion shops to design a range, but A-Wear was the perfect choice for her:
“ Living in London is great because I have a lot of choice with clothes. There’s a lot of markets where I live and a lot of cool upcoming designers, and being on TV a got a lot of stuff sent to me. But I was really lucky with A-Wear. It’s a brand I’ve always been a really big fan of, growing up in Ireland I think most people my age are a big fan. At the moment they are doing brilliantly, they’ve got the online store and they’ve got shops in the UK. I think they are a really cool brand”
It’s not just the fashion world that have been calling Laura, but the beauty world too. As she continued to wow audiences with her good looks and charisma on MTV, ROC cosmetics got in touch with her agent and asked her to be the new face of their range (what a compliment). The MTV DIGS presenter said she was really flattered:
“That was deadly. They’re such a cool iconic French brand. But because I don’t live in Ireland I didn’t get to see any of the posters or billboards. It was only an Irish campaign. I think it would have been weird if I saw them every day.”
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| Laura's ROC campaign |
I find it funny how understated she thinks her fame is. All over Ireland we were seeing massive billboards of her face, posters on bus stops and pictures of her plastered all around town and she hasn't even seen one! Even the day I interview Laura she tells me that she had a surreal experience when she went to get a new phone that day, yes her phone was robbed while she was back in Ireland (tut tut tut):
"It was so embarrassing. I went down to Vodafone today to get a new phone. When I was younger I did a bit of modelling and I had forgotten I did one for Vodafone years ago! And I walk in to the Vodafone store in Bray and who's face is the back wall of the shop?.... mine! I was so embarrassed!"
Although it might be embarrassing for the MTV presenter, she admits that her mother is seriously proud when she sees Laura's face on billboards, like any mammy would be! Next up, I had to ask her about being called a 'sex symbol'. Back in 2008 the stylish presenter accepted an offer to do
FHM, a controversial decision for most celeb's, but like everything, Laura said she just had a laugh with it.
"It makes me laugh when people say I'm a sex symbol. It's definitely a good compliment"
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| Laura in FHM 2008 |
However one thing that I notice about Laura is that she's not affected by the whole celebrity buzz. She got the dream job that every girl wanted, yet she takes everything with a grain of salt, and it's something I really admire about her. Unlike many other young celebs in the spotlight, Laura shows me that she's got both feet firmly on the ground. She says she knows her showbiz life can't be taken too seriously:
"I feel like I'm living in a bubble. The whole business... It's not real. If you read what people write about you then that's where things can go wrong. Because one day in the press you could be a sex symbol but the next day they could print a picture of you without make-up and say you're horrendous. So it's lovely that people have said those nice things about me, but it's not real."
Although being called sexy and attractive is normally a positive thing, previously the press have suggested to Laura that maybe she got the
MTV position because of her looks not her talent. I ask her, does that annoy you?:
" No, I think that's a compliment. But when I want for the MTV job there were girls that were a million times better looking than me, some of them were models. And when I got to the final 100 stage and had to go to the studios, I remember thinking there are so many amazing girls here, if they are looking for just good looks, there's no why it will be me. So hopefully they picked me for my brains!"
It was coming to the end of my time with Laura and I wanted to ask her for words of inspiration for all those young rising stars out there. She was been so extremely successful in her career and she's still only 25, so it's obvious she is destined for huge success. Laura tells me she thinks her positive attitude has helped her follow her dreams:
"Even if you ask my mum she'll tell you I am such a positive person. I really believe in good energy, I think if you wish others well it will come back on you. I know it's really hard in Ireland at the moment not to be negative with all the financial problems and with the recent cold weather and snow, it's made people feel down. But I think people just need to be positive. If you start saying bad things will happen then bad things WILL happen!"
She continues saying, a positive attitude helped her win the
MTV competition:
"With the MTV job I have been very positive the whole way through it. Even though I didn't think I would win it, I knew in my mind that something good would definitely come of it"
Although Miss Whitmore is leading a seriously glamorous lifestyle now, she admits that she took every media job she could when she was younger, to get work experience. Laughing she tells me that when she worked for
East Coast radio she remembers doing news reports from a pig race in Arklow, joking she says she's had very "Bridget Jones moments". But everyone has to start somewhere, don't they?
The last question I ask the bubbly blonde is if she has any life motto's. One thing's for sure, Laura is a seriously positive woman and it seems that most of her inspiration comes from her family:
"My mammy always says 'If you're not in it, you can't win it'. Like with the MTV job I never would have got it if I hadn't applied for it. If you don't try to get something you want, then how are you supposed to get it? The worst thing that can happen is that you get turned down, but at least you tried"
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| Laura on MTV Digs |
I have to say that for someone so famous, with a buzzing career and glamorous lifestyle, Laura just seemed like a girl I knew from down the road. Although she's a full fledged UK resident now, throughout the interview she went back to her roots, calling everything "deadly" puts a smile on my face.
I don't think she realizes how much talent she has, but we can definitely see it. Maybe it's because she wants to keep herself level-headed, or maybe she's just modest. Either way this Irish girl has achieved so much in the past three years and I can tell she's a lot more left to give.
As we're finishing the interview Laura tells me she's DJing in Athlone that night, and since she's been back in Ireland for Christmas she's been road-tripping to gigs everywhere. The young presenter has got a true teen-spirit inside her, and that's what ,I think, makes her so special. She's fearless, stylish, sexy, charismatic, extremely talented and one of the most positive people I've ever met.... It's
Laura Whitmore.
PS!!!
You can catch Laura on
MTV News Moday - Friday
If you want to see what Laura's up to follow her on Twitter here:
The WhitmoreNext up is
Rozanna Purcell, she's my
February Star Of The Month!
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