PEOPLE don’t quite know what to make of Natalie Imbruglia. Is she a cold fish, or just someone who likes her privacy?

Does she fly the flag for Australia overseas, or is this a prime example of a born-again Brit? Waiting to meet the woman herself in a harbourside cafe, I have no idea what to expect.

She installs herself opposite me with a polite handshake and instantly starts firing questions at me. Where did I get my handbag? Who cuts my hair? Do I have kids? Whatever I might have prepared myself for, this isn’t it.

“It’s funny – people have a weird concept of me,” she says, with a look that’s one-third concerned, two-thirds amused.

“I’m definitely different to how I’m perceived.”

Which is?

“I’d say people might think I’m above my station,” she answers, squarely making eye contact.

“I don’t know. It doesn’t really bother me. But I’m kind of happy to be home, so people can get to know me again.”

Imbruglia’s back in the country for the new Seven Network series The X Factor, taking her place in the judging panel alongside Kyle Sandilands, Ronan Keating and Guy Sebastian.
Having been immersed in the music and acting industry all her adult life, she’s an ideal mentor for the young hopefuls the show’s bound to attract.

Still, after 17 years living in the UK, it was a surprise to hear she was onboard. What’s more, as a celebrity who’s notoriously protective of her privacy, she’s not the obvious fit for such a mainstream show. I wonder whether she’s properly thought it through.

“Yeah, a lot,” comes the reply. “There was a time when I wouldn’t have been able to handle it – I’ve never been good at the public side of things. But now, I think I’m old enough. I’m more comfortable in my own skin. Wisdom comes with age, you know?”

Today, the 35-year-old is warm and friendly, talking freely and listening attentively. Though she’s certainly not overflowing with cuddles or bawdy jokes, it wouldn’t be fair to call her cold.

Instead, she’s intelligent, poised and unflappable, more like the stars of the olden days than some of her attention-hungry contemporaries.

Petite without being bird-like, she’s dressed in an understated outfit of skinny blue jeans and a long, grey cashmere cardigan, with perfect skin and those ever-plump lips.

This is a woman who can’t help but bring an element of cool to the show. “I always watched the UK version thinking, that’s a dream job,” she says.

“So when the email came from Australia asking if I was interested, I couldn’t go back to sleep. It was exciting to be offered a job I want to do, back home.”

So, Imbruglia still calls Australia home. But is she really one of us, after living abroad for so long? Her parents and three sisters still live here, and she now has nieces and a nephew, too, along with her old school friends.

“If the show’s a huge success, I might buy a place here,” she says.

“I miss the beach. But I love travelling, so if I could live half the year here and half the year in London, that would be amazing. Once you catch the travel bug, it’s hard to stay put. I think that’s a change in me that might never correct itself.”

There’s nothing the Australian public loves more than one of our own coming back to the flock. We embraced Dannii Minogue’s return, desperately hoping she’s back for good.
Minogue, of course, came home to nest, bringing with her a man and a baby bump.

Imbruglia, on the other hand, flew back alone. Although she’s been linked to a string of men over the past few years (including David Schwimmer, Prince Harry, Josh Hartnett and David Walliams), there is, she says, no romance in the air right now. “I’m dating, but you know…”

Women who are unlucky in love seem to perplex us. We couldn’t be keener to see the likes of Jennifer Aniston paired up with a nice husband and a couple of offspring, and I suspect we’d all like something similar for Imbruglia.
Instead, her one notable attempt at long-term love was her marriage to Silverchair frontman Daniel Johns. A match made in heaven is rarely a match conducted from separate continents, and no one was greatly surprised when they announced their split four years later, in 2008.

These days, is love even a priority? “God, yeah. It just hasn’t been knocking at my door lately!” She doubles over with a raucous laugh.

“It’s not as if it worries me not to have a boyfriend – I’m loving it. But, 100 per cent, I see myself settling down at some point.”

How that would sit with her penchant for globe-trotting isn’t clear just yet. “I think when you have a baby, it changes you. I don’t know how I’ll react,” she says. “Will I take the family around the world with me? Or will I suddenly want to do the white-picket-fence thing?”

However it plays out, one thing’s for sure, as with everything else in her life, it will happen on her own terms.

“You can always adopt. If I couldn’t have my own, I’d do that,” she stops herself and sits back with a shake of the head. “Listen – I don’t even have a boyfriend, so this is way beyond me.”

The notion of adoption clearly strikes a chord, and you get the sense that Imbruglia is very aware of those less fortunate.

She’s been an ambassador for the UN-led Campaign to End Fistula since 2005. A common condition in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia among women without proper obstetric care, it leads to stillborn births and chronic medical issues for the mum.

“Not many people wanted to speak out on it, because it’s a bit of an icky subject, so I realised I could be well used,” she recalls.

But despite her visits to Ethiopia and Nigeria to see its effects, her efforts initially came under fire.

“People thought I wasn’t being authentic, that I was doing it for selfish reasons.”

Luckily, a friend offered her advice. “Bono told me to stick at it and eventually people realise you’re serious. I was able to prove them wrong.”

In April, she ran the London Marathon to raise money for the campaign, tackling the 42km course in just over five hours.

“I lost a toenail, which was horrible,” she says. “And for two months afterwards, I’d get up in the morning and the arches of my feet were in such pain, I couldn’t walk.”

She prefers working out, when in London, with a trainer from Tracy Anderson’s school of fitness (Anderson is known for keeping Madonna’s body in check). “I can’t diet,” she adds.

“I eat out and I like to go for a drink with mates. If you’re a food lover like me, you become addicted to exercise.”

Whatever she’s doing, it’s working. The only thing she isn’t happy with is her hair.

“It’s not in great condition, so I have extensions put in for events, which I hate,” she says, blaming the blonde phase she went through a few years ago.

“We’ll put that down to divorce, I think. Everyone told me I couldn’t go blonde, but I had to do it. And let’s face it, it was a disaster.”

With her self-deprecating humour, she’s surprised me again.
Imbruglia isn’t the ice queen she’s often painted as.

“Seeing me every episode, people will get a sense of who I am. I’m gonna burst my aloof bubble,” she laughs. She pauses, staring out at the dark clouds hovering over the water. “And that could go either way, couldn’t it?”

By CERI DAVID

Source: The Sunday Telegraph