Man, woman, trans, gay, straight – is there anyone who doesn’t fancy Aussie actress Ruby Rose? It all happened within days of her appearance as inmate Stella Carlin in series three of Orange Is The New Black last month, with a naked shower scene that broke the internet.
Part Angelina, part James Dean, with an edgy undercut and tattoos, the androgynous new inmate at Litchfield Penitentiary has caused straight women across the globe to question their sexuality.
Chris Brown’s ex Karrueche Tran even posted a collage of Ruby entitled: “When you think you’re straight but then Ruby Rose comes and confuses you,” with the caption: “I’m not straight any more. I’m not confused. I’m ready :)”
So who is this vision in an OITNB prison jumpsuit, dubbed “the most gorgeous human on the planet” on Twitter?
Although it seems she’s come from nowhere, the 29 year old is a huge star in her native Australia. Born Ruby Rose Langenheim in Melbourne to a single mum, she says her childhood was “not always safe”. And even as young as five, she questioned her gender.
“I used to sleep on my chest because I thought it would stop me from getting boobs. I used to pray to God that I wouldn’t get breasts,” she’s said.
As a child, she experienced bullying, depression, sexual abuse, bipolar disorder and, at the age of 12, attempted suicide after coming out.
At 16, she caught the attention of modelling agents when she was runner-up in a teen magazine modelling competition, and by 24 she’d landed a job as a presenter on Australian MTV (by downing 100 shots of beer and snogging strangers on the street).
While accepting an ASTRA Award for Favourite Female Personality in 2009, Ruby delivered a defiant message to her bullies, asking: “Where are you now?!” It won her thousands of Aussie hearts, and she soon landed a contract with Maybelline, a clothing range and a radio show.
In July 2014, Ruby made a short film depicting her struggle with gender identity, inspired by a Hollywood knock-back. She said: “I almost got a part in this really big franchise. It got to the director and he said: ‘Nah, she can’t play the sexy girl. She looks like Justin Bieber.’” Ironically, Ruby recently uploaded a snap to her 2.9 million Instagram followers of her hanging with Justin in Las Vegas, with the caption: “My brother”.
Two months after her film went viral on YouTube, Ruby got a call to audition for OITNB, and since her debut, Biebs isn’t the only celeb queuing up to meet her. Taylor Swift has started following her on Twitter, while Karrueche recently uploaded another pic of her and Ruby having dinner in LA.
But sadly for all the straight women who claim she’s turned them, Ruby is taken – she’s officially engaged to Roald Dahl’s designer granddaughter, Phoebe, 26 (although there are rumours they’ve already tied the knot in secret). Previously, she was engaged to model Catherine McNeil, 26, before their break-up in 2010.
These days, Ruby considers herself “gender fluid”, telling one interviewer: “For the most part, I definitely don’t identify as any gender. I’m not a guy. I don’t really feel like a woman, but obviously I was born one. So I’m somewhere in the middle which, in my perfect imagination, is like having the best of both sexes.”
Clearly, plenty of people agree – the Ruby Rose gender revolution is going nowhere.
