Leilani Dowding is living life to the fullest. Not only is she born with great genes, but this beauty has some brains. Taking advantage of her great looks (winning Miss Great Britain and being a Miss Universe contestant), and being a savvy business woman as well, which lies in her passion for her clothing line called Leiluna Collection. Let's find out more about this bombshell.
1) What made you decide to do "Tough Love: Miami"?
"I have had two failed engagements and a failed marriage, and also been single for a long time. I figured I needed someone strong enough to put me in my place and tell me where I am going wrong. I had watched a couple of seasons, and I thought the Steve had some valid points and wondered what he would think of my dating life."
The host Steve Ward labeled her wrong due to her mind knowing what it wanted, but not expressing it properly. Even though she defends what she says, Leilani needed to be detailed in what she wanted. With the outcome of show, she learnt her lesson on how to communicate properly. Any girl watching the show can relate to one or more of the girls, and one great lesson learned is how to state the obvious with dating.
2) You have had an interesting background in the types of relationships you were involved with. Why did you feel that now was the right time to "correct" your ways when finding the right guy for you?
"I had previously been engaged 2 pro soccer players in England. They went wrong and I moved to L.A. I met a guy who was older a restauranter (Richie Palmer who was previously married to actress Raquel Welch) and he was more of a gentleman. I tried to change my pattern from young athletes to an older, settled guy and we got married, but he didn’t want kids. Since then I just haven’t been able to turn “date”s into anything more serious."
What chance is there for love when your previous relationships consisted of infidelity and a want that your partner didn't share with you? Vowing to never date an athlete again (engaged to soccer players for a year and a half), she found love in a restauranteur twenty years her senior. Though going into the marriage she thought she didn't want to have kids, she realized having three dogs made her want children, though her husband didn't share that want with her, which definitely affected their three year union.
Leilani considers herself on a sort of fast track relationship where she gets really impatient with guys, especially since guys seem to know what they want when they want it. She doesn't know if she'll stay in something if it's not going anywhere in six months. A reason she believes that she hasn't found much luck in dating and finding a more serious relationship is that she doesn't consider herself a dating type of girl. In England "dating around" is considered cheating; there are big cultural differences in England and America in regards to dating standards which she doesn't like at all.
3. What type of guy do you usually fall for? What qualities do you look for in a guy? How did you get the nickname Miss Superficial?
"I like guy with a bit of everything, good looking and successful. I got the nickname Miss Superficial because I said exactly that, The host took a “bit of everything” to mean, everything material.” and “success” to solely mean money. Which is probably what happens a lot of the time in places where people are known to be superficial. The funny thing is, when I won Miss Great Britain, in which Simon Cowell was the judge. My question was “What is success?” and money never came into it. To me “everything” means the obvious things that I didn’t think I had to state, A sense of humor, charm, honesty, loyalty, having things in common and having similar interests."
When asked how she would define "good looking", Leilani says that she doesn't find Brad Pitt good looking, and doesn't have a type because she's open to all ethnicities. She does prefer over 6 foot tall with an athletic build. "Looks are so subjective to the eye of the beholder."
4) This isn't exactly your first reality show you've been on. Why do another one? What makes you want to appear on reality shows?
"All the other shows I did such as UK celebrity Fear Factor, The Weakest Link. were done for charity. Celebrity wrestling was more of a competitive show. This one was very different, I’ve always been an open person so I thought what the hell. I fitted what they were looking for."
Charities Leilani works with include RSPCA, an animal charity in England and she also likes to help cancer charities because her aunt passed away from it.
To be a contestant on "Tough Love: Miami", they wanted good looking girls who have been single awhile and don't know why, also women who are doing well for themselves.
5) What is the most valuable thing you have taken from doing this show?
"Being able to see my faults, and the faults I had in common with the other girls."
6) Being discovered to enter a modeling contest, what were your aspirations before becoming a model/actress?
"I used to want to be a vet, but I hated blood. When I studied economics, I thought I wanted to be a banker, or trader, Thank god I didn’t. Though I’d be a lot richer, I'd have contributed to the downfall of the economy.. LOL."
Studying Economics for only one semester, Leilani knows she won't go back to college, and that nowadays too much emphasis is put on college. Right now she is focused on her clothing line right now. On the side, she does real estate a bit and has properties in England which she rents out, and will maybe take it further in the future. Currently she wants her Leiluna Collection line to be in more stores and wants line to continue to grow gradually. As of now, her clothing sells to stores that belong to stylists, and some clients include the Housewives of New Jersey.
7) Being from Britain, what do you like most/least about LA?
"I love the weather in LA, and that people have nice teeth. HAHA. It’s a much healthy life style than when I was living in London.. A lot of people say the worst thing is LA traffic, but I’ve driven in London and it doesn’t get worse. Theres’ nothing I don’t really like, because if there is, I stay away."
Leilani isn't sure if she'll stay in L.A. the rest of her life because of the fact that she wants to have children and the costs for health care and education is more expensive in America. If she ever were to move back to London, it would have to be the countryside where there's lots of space and green since she doesn't like the claustrophobic nature of London in general. She loves L.A. and Miami where there's lots of space, and wants to live anywhere the weather is warm.
8) Being in the media spotlight, what are the biggest goals you want to accomplish?
"Right now I want to really want to grow my clothing and be able to have more time doing things I enjoy outside of work...I guess I’m working towards having more free time."
9) What made you want to have your own clothing line? How did you tailor it towards how you wanted to be presented as a brand?
"I wanted my own clothing line because I found it hard to find the kind of clothes that I wanted to wear. People in LA either dress, like they just don’t care, and look a mess. Or everything is too tight short and lowcut, unless you go to the super expensive designers. People would always ask me where I bought the clothes that I had made for myself so I figured this is something I could invest my time in."
Leilani describes her clothing line as sexy but elegant. There are a lot of backless dresses, and glittery sequin stuff which are perfect for the upcoming holiday season.
10) What are the biggest challenges you've faced in your career?
"You know I have been so lucky. I really haven’t had anything major to overcome. Obviously there will be people who don’t like what I do, but you cant please everyone. I really think if you keep a positive attitude and truly never stop believing you can do something, you will find a way."
When things get hard for Leilani, she admits coping with stress and frustrations by screaming a lot. Not coping well with stress, she usually ends up in a bad mood, so hides away from everybody.
11) If you can have a certain image attached to you, what would you want that to be?
"I'd want it to be glamorous, and also kind."
12) Is there anything that you have regretted in life? What was that and what would you have changed?
"You know there is nothing I have regretted. We learn from our mistakes. Perhaps I wish I hadn’t hurt my ex husband by leaving him. But he’s forgiven me and we are friends now."
13) What other projects are you currently working on?
"I’m pretty focused on my clothing line, but I have started back doing a bit of modeling. As I’ve said I’ve always been very lucky. When I decided to get back into it. my 1st booking was for US Maxim out mid Oct and I’m just finishing my 2012 calendar."
14) Your first name is Leilani, but you have an English accent. What is your ethnicity?
"I lived in England all my life until I moved to LA when I was 26. My father is English and my mum is from the Philippines. I definitely have her temper. Filipinos are fiery ones."
15) Have you found it hard to connect with your cultural background?
"I guess growing up in England I feel very English and my mum didn’t teach me Filipino. But I eat Filipino food, Most of England is a mix now a days. Surprisingly I notice the culture difference between Americans and English even more. But I don’t know if that’s because I have only spent a significant amount of time in LA. Sometimes that can be tough."
The cultural differences she notices between Americans and English is that their sense of humor is very different, Americans have better teeth, you have to pay for healthcare and education, and the multiple dating thing that English people like herself notice. Also, English people can talk bad about the government and leaders without taking defense, while Americans are more patriotic and don't really talk bad about leaders. Americans are also a little more social and friendlier to strangers while English people are more closed off.
Now that you've got a deeper look into this beauty who has brains and talent, you can check out Leilani Dowding on these following sites:
Official Website: http://www.leilanidowding.net/
FB: https://www.facebook.com/leilanidowdingofficial
Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/leilanidowding
Clothing Line: http://leilunacollection.com/
You Just Do You, Imma Do Me
Camille
