Splash of Success

Controversies over anorexia notwithstanding, runways and the pages of fashion model magazines still belong to waifs and waiflike actresses who wear size 0’s and 2’s. A real girl like Julie Henderson doesn’t have a lot of options.

So thank god for Sports Illustrated, Henderson said recently.

“They embrace every aspect of you, so

you never have issues of feeling insecure with your body. They actually like it when you gain weight. They’ll say, ‘Oh, your boobs are bigger.’?”

Henderson, a Katy native who’s appeared the past three years in SI’s annual Swimsuit Issue, is enjoying the glow of being mildly famous — not a paparazzi magnet, exactly, but the kind of famous that allows her to wade ankle-deep in the Great American Celebrity Pool.

Home in Houston for a few days before the Austin wedding of fellow SI hottie Brooklyn Decker to tennis star Andy Roddick, Henderson talked candidly about what life as an SI model brings — and doesn’t.

“You have a totally different status in the industry,” she said. “You’re not just a mannequin in a magazine anymore, but a name and a face. Doors open to do commercials, TV, movies, whatever you want.”

Later this month, she’ll film a segment as a guest judge on America’s Next Top Model, and she said she’s discussing an endorsement with an Australian swimwear line.

She earns as much as $7,000 a day now. But she’s not booked every day. It’s more like every few weeks, and she spends a lot of time at casting calls for everything from print ad campaigns to TV pilots.

Waifs and actresses aren’t the only competition: the SI pinup sorority this year included 19 swimsuit models, three tennis players, race car driver Danica Patrick and 10 NBA dancers. (Their channel at www.si.com, full of videos and photos, has generated more than 22 million views since it debuted in February.)

SI swimsuit editor Diane Smith says she looks for girls who aren’t too thin, with good smiles and a nice, sexy shape — “natural beauties with a good, healthy glow.” Henderson, she adds, has exactly the right look — “such a sporty, sexy beauty, with those freckles.”

Henderson describes herself as a “more clothes the better” kind of girl With a quick smile, she looks so wholesome it’s hard to believe she’s the same girl who entices viewers into a video with the announcement, “Guess what? I’m naked right now.”

She took her first modeling classes when she was 8 at Houston’s Barbizon School, not aiming to be a professional, she said. “It was like etiquette school, how to sit properly and all that.”

By the time she was 16 she was working in New York and Europe. In 2002, models with figures could still find plentiful work for magazines like Harper’s Bazaar, Elle Girl and Teen Vogue. Henderson has also done print ads for companies such as Benetton and Pantene.

But by the time she was 19, modeling for SI became her best route to big-time success.

“I’m a big girl,” she said, looking at her least favorite body part — her thighs. “I built up these muscles playing sports as a kid, and they aren’t going away.” Keeping it fresh

Henderson didn’t find her way into SI overnight. Rejected the first year she auditioned, she also had to pass several rounds of interviews.

That’s not uncommon, said Smith. She works with all the major New York modeling agencies to discover new models.

Smith typically chooses 18 for each issue, including five or six rookies “to keep it fresh.” But with limited space, she also has to drop five or six from the stable each year.

Henderson said the SI team eased her into her first appearance, in 2007, with a shoot on a University of Southern California campus that had a cheerleading theme.

“They never ask you to take your top off,” she said.

They do, however, pair rookies with more experienced models who’ve shed their inhibitions. So in 2008, when Henderson posed for SI in Israel, the top came off.

And this year, she volunteered to do a body painting session — wearing a “swimsuit” that’s all concept, no fabric. Body painting, she said, “is the most exclusive party you can get into besides the cover.”

Henderson chuckled, recalling the awkwardness of requesting a total body wax job. She marveled that the painting, done by artist Joanne Gair in several sessions, took 16 hours. (Her “bikini” was inspired by Mayan tile work.)

But slithering naked in the surf — on a public beach in Grenada — didn’t come naturally, even with a margarita to sip.

“They always say you feel like you have a swimsuit on. That’s a load of B.S.,” Henderson said, smiling. “I could feel the wind going in places I’m not comfortable with.”

SI pays its models an editorial rate that doesn’t make them rich, Smith said, explaining that “it’s a vehicle for them to become higher profile.”

To make it to the next level — one where she might really earn big dollars — Henderson admitted, “You have to build celebrity status.” Which, she has discovered, also means developing a tolerance for the rumor mill.

Henderson has appeared often since February with hip-hop entrepreneur Russell Simmons, who is old enough to be her father.

“We’ve been friends for years now,” she said. “But the first time someone wrote that we were feeding each other, canoodling and making out, I was like, ‘Really?’?”

Then she got invited to Vanity Fair’s Oscar night party — one of the biggest celeb-fests of the year — and it occurred to her that maybe, as they say, all publicity is good. So she called Simmons and suggested, with mischief in mind, that they attend together. He’s been a willing publicity partner ever since.

“He’s such a great businessman — one of the best people to have in your life. He’s always wanting to do projects together. He likes to brand people and will go over and above to try to make that happen,” she said.

She said she’s also “casually dating and looking for Mr. Right.”

And in some ways, she’s still a kid at heart. When she’s home in the summer, she likes to hit the Master Blaster at Schlitterbahn Waterpark in New Braunfels with her dad, Katy real estate agent Rick Henderson — a tradition they’ve had since she was little. (He’s been divorced from Julie’s mother, Zoe Truhe, since the mid-1990s.)

For his part, good ol’ dad is mostly proud.

“The SI people are phenomenal,” he said. “They take their girls under their wings, and it’s like a family situation. Seeing that has eased it for me, knowing people are looking out for her besides me.”

And as for the body painting for body part modeling?

“It’s not like she’s in Playboy or Penthouse,” he said.

“If that was the case, me and her would be having to talk.”

News Sorces : Chron.com (By MOLLY GLENTZER)