Gabrielle Richens (born 14 September 1974) is a British model and television presenter. She was born in

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

of British, Indian and Chinese descent, although her parents are from South Africa. Richens has worked as a model since she was fifteen when she was discovered while shopping on

King's Road King's Road or Kings Road (or sometimes the King's Road, especially when it was the king's private road until 1830, or as a colloquialism by middle/upper class London residents), is a major street stretching through Chelsea, London, Chelsea ...

. Thereafter, she signed with the

Elite In political and sociological theory, the elite (french: élite, from la, eligere, to select or to sort out) are a small group of powerful people who hold a disproportionate amount of wealth, privilege, political power, or skill in a group. D ...

modeling agency. She was nicknamed "The Pleasure Machine" after an airline commercial she appeared in. She has risen to fame in particular in Australia.

Modeling career

Richens captured the eye of the Australian public and rode the wave of popularity generated from her relationship with professional

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

footballer

Solomon Haumono Solomon Haumono ( to, Solomone Haumono; born 13 October 1975) is a former professional boxer and former rugby league footballer of Tongan descent. Early life He attended Newtown Boys High School, Newtown, New South Wales. He then went on to C ...

, eventually leading to an appearance in ''

Ralph Ralph (pronounced ; or ,) is a male given name of English, Scottish and Irish origin, derived from the Old English ''Rædwulf'' and Radulf, cognate with the Old Norse ''Raðulfr'' (''rað'' "counsel" and ''ulfr'' "wolf"). The most common forms ...

'' magazine. Richens then posed nude for Australian ''

Black+White ''(not only) Black+White'' was a photography, arts and popular culture magazine, published in Australia between 1992 and 2007. History and profile Issue No. 00 was launched on 12 November 1992 and the final issue No. 88 was published in January ...

'' magazine as well as the March 1999 Australian ''

Playboy ''Playboy'' is an American men's lifestyle and entertainment magazine, formerly in print and currently online. It was founded in Chicago in 1953, by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. K ...

'' edition. She returned to the United Kingdom at the end of 2001. Richens placed in the UK edition of

FHM ''FHM'' (For Him Magazine) is a British multinational men's lifestyle magazine that was published in several countries. Its master edition contained features such as the ''FHM'' 100 Sexiest Women in the World, which has featured models, actres ...

's 100 Sexiest Women in the World in

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

(41st),

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

(69th) and

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

(71st). She was also ranked 14th Sexiest Woman in the World by Maxim.

Television career

In 2001 Richens co-presented the television

game show A game show is a genre of broadcast viewing entertainment (radio, television, internet, stage or other) where contestants compete for a reward. These programs can either be participatory or Let's Play, demonstrative and are typically directed b ...

The Desert Forges ''The Desert Forges'' is a game show set in the Wadi Rum desert region in Jordan. It was first aired on Channel 5 (UK), Channel 5 from 23 June to 25 August 2001. It is based on a French format called ''Les Forges du Désert'', created by Pierre ...

'' (with

Richard Fairbrass Richard Peter John Fairbrass (born 22 September 1953) is an English singer, bassist and television presenter, best known as lead singer of the pop group Right Said Fred, which achieved two hits in the early 1990s with the singles "I'm Too Sexy" a ...

) for Channel 5, and went on to present ''3001: A Sex Oddity''; a quirky, sex-orientated 'documentary' series in 2002. She was also the host of a short-lived Australian dating show called ''Love Rules''. Richens has appeared on two Australian celebrity reality shows ''

Dancing with the Stars ''Dancing with the Stars'' is the name of various international television series based on the format of the British TV series '' Strictly Come Dancing'', which is distributed by BBC Studios, the commercial arm of the BBC. Currently the forma ...

'' and '' Australian Celebrity Survivor: Vanuatu''. She also appeared in an episode of '' CSI'' entitled " Time of Your Death" and an episode of ''

How I Met Your Mother ''How I Met Your Mother'' (often abbreviated as ''HIMYM'') is an American sitcom, created by Craig Thomas and Carter Bays for CBS. The series, which aired from September 19, 2005 to March 31, 2014, follows the main character, Ted Mosby, and his ...

'' entitled "

Single Stamina "Single Stamina" is the tenth episode in the second season of the television series '' How I Met Your Mother''. It originally aired on November 27, 2006. The episode was nominated for the GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Individual Episode. Plo ...

Personal life

Richens shot to fame in Australia following her highly publicised relationship with professional

footballer

. The publicity surrounding their relationship focused on the manner in which the pair met and Haumono's actions subsequent to this. After having met Richens in a Sydney night club, Haumono, then a contracted player to the

Canterbury Bulldogs The Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Belmore, a suburb in the Canterbury-Bankstown region of Sydney. They compete in the NRL Telstra Premiership, as well as competitions facilita ...

Rugby League Club, left for the United Kingdom to be with Richens. Haumono had not informed his family or his club of his decision and this highly jeopardised his rugby league career. Much debate was generated as to whether his contract with the

Bulldogs The Bulldog is a British breed of dog of mastiff type. It may also be known as the English Bulldog or British Bulldog. It is of medium size, a muscular, hefty dog with a wrinkled face and a distinctive pushed-in nose.St George Dragons The St. George Dragons is an Australian rugby league football club from St George District in Sydney, New South Wales that played in the top level New South Wales competition and Australian Rugby League competitions from the 1921 until th ...

References

External links

Official Gabrielle Richens Myspace website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Richens, Gabrielle 1974 births English people of Chinese descent English people of Indian descent English people of South African descent English female models English television presenters British expatriates in Australia Australian expatriates in England Living people Australian Survivor contestants