Fifty Shades of Jamie Dornan (8 page)

With renewed positivity, Professor Dornan returned home to Belfast determined not to let his cancer blight his life and that of his wife and children. As the months turned into years, it turned out that the Iraqi doctor had been right all along, and Jim found that he could continue leading a normal life, with the leukaemia under control.

Sunday roast dinners with the family – a favourite with the Dornans – rounds of golf at the weekend and much-loved holidays in South Africa with a group of old friends were all back on the cards again. This spectacular country had long been a favourite with the doctor after his work had taken him to hospitals and conferences in Cape Town; it had become a place he liked to return year-on-year with pals for a cathartic trip away.

His zest for life was indeed infectious and Jamie – sharing his dad's hope for the future while remaining stoically philosophical – plunged headlong into his music career. ‘My dad was diagnosed a year ago. It's just one of those things. He's alive and away in South Africa on a boys' trip. He's in remission. I kind of think if all this happens before I'm twenty-three then the road ahead will be quite smooth.'

Luckily for the young and ambitious Jamie, the following years would indeed be filled with fun and fortune, and his father would still be there shouting him along from the sidelines.

His father, meanwhile, admitted that there was no stopping him, as he gave up his job in the NHS to go into private practice despite heading towards retirement age. ‘I have a very fertile mind and I always have a few ideas and I like working on them,' he explained in 2013. Speaking about his cancer, he added, ‘I'm fine now; I just had a check-up the other day but when you come face-to-face with your own mortality, it is a wake-up call.'

Nine years after discovering his cancer, Professor Dornan was still in ‘remission' and at the time of writing, in 2014, Jamie's father was still going strong. ‘I'm in remission but I prefer to think of it as “cured”,' he said. ‘If it returns, we will deal with that when it comes as a second issue. I wish the oncologists would realise that we often think like that.'

Jim was still mindful, though, that his fortune could change at any point. ‘I think I'm at peace with myself and also preparing myself that the end could come at any time – I think that's what comes from having a near-death experience. So I'm very aware of that now, so I'm not burning the candle at both ends although some of my friends still think I am,' he said. ‘I'm still a driven man and I still want to change the world but I'm also with the realisation the bad news could still come – but maybe it won't come to anything.'

Back in 2005, though, and with his cancer treatment in full swing, it was business as usual for the whole family. ‘Jamie's one of the nicest people I know,' his father said proudly just before
hearing the news that his model son was on the cusp of getting a record deal that year. ‘He is getting on with it and is enjoying himself. I'm incredibly proud.'

With his ever-supportive father's backing, it was now time to conquer those ambitions on his ‘to do' list: Jamie had a music career to crack and a modelling career to enjoy, and now more than ever he was determined that nothing would stand in the way of him becoming a world-famous actor. Remarkably, and thanks to the wonders of modern medicine, the most important man in Jamie's life was going to be there every step of the way, rejoicing in his successes and catching him at every fall.

J
amie was now mixing with the rich and very famous as the darling of the modelling industry. The man on everyone’s lips was said to be commanding six-figure sums for his contracts and was dubbed ‘the male Kate Moss’. Everyone wanted a piece of him.

Jamie was quick to acknowledge at the time that gay men, from photographers such as Carter Smith to designers like Hedi Slimane from Dior, were playing a large role in accelerating his career. He was adjusting well to the heightened interest from males and females, both inside and outside the industry, that such a job brought his way.

Fashion designer Matthew Williamson was one of the many who openly drooled over the handsome model, confiding to a magazine, ‘My secret crush is Jamie Dornan, but he knows that – it’s not secret.’ Whereas some straight men may have felt
uncomfortable by the public adoration, Jamie revelled in it. ‘I just love the attention,’ he told gay magazine
Out
in 2006. ‘I don’t really mind where it comes from.’

‘I find it hard to believe people are actually that interested in me, I suppose it’s the Irish charm that gets me the jobs,’ he added.

It was fair to say that although most wannabe pop stars would be busking to earn a crust or living on the breadline as they tried to carve out a bona fide music career, lack of money was no issue for Jamie. He was certainly no struggling musician, as he kick-started 2006 with yet another cash injection thanks to new and lucrative modelling contracts with clothing giants H&M and Gap.

With brooding stares now down to a fine art, Jamie appeared in the glossy H&M print campaign dressed in khaki and posing with waif-like blondes on a beach for their spring/summer 2006 collection.

His bank balance was boosted further when Gap snapped him up to join a line-up of faces promoting their ‘Age Wash Denim’ jeans. It was another opportunity to mix with the fashion elite, as he hung out with prestigious Dutch photography duo Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin who had been hired by the high street brand to take a collection of slick, arty shots for the Gap campaign. The pair, whose commercial success was linked to their lavish adverts for a string of luxury fashion houses, including Yves Saint Laurent, Givenchy and Jean Paul Gaultier, met Jamie at New York’s Pier 59 Studios, along with a team of top stylists.

Jamie was in his element; although he still hadn’t warmed to the hours of posing, he revelled in the interesting characters he met on the job. Moreover, Jamie could now call New York his second home and the job wasn’t far from his apartment. At just twenty-four years of age, Jamie had his own pad in both the Big Apple and London – the ultimate testament to his jet-setting lifestyle and modelling success.

And it wasn’t just the fashion industry that was raving about the young model. Much to Jamie’s surprise, the UK press was also maintaining an interest in his personal and professional life despite his broken ties with Keira. ‘Find time for a private perv over Jamie Dornan the Belfast-born model in the Dior campaign and the new Gap and H&M ads,’ cooed a journalist in a fashion special on Dornan in the
Sunday Times
. ‘The brooding beauty used to date Keira but now poor love he’s single and heartbroken – cue an X-rated fantasy about how you would cheer up the poor love.’

Not that Jamie needed any cheering up – it was now that he was enjoying one of the biggest contracts of his life: starring alongside Kate Moss in Calvin Klein’s new magazine and billboard campaign. He had posed for the fashion house in 2004 and they were back for more of the Irish charmer. Stunning Kate had been handed £500,000 in the deal by the designers who had made her a superstar in 1992. The move to hire her again, however, was deemed massively controversial at the time, since the catwalk beauty was waiting to hear if she would face criminal charges over alleged cocaine abuse. The supermodel had been snapped the previous year snorting a white powder
in a recording studio with her then bad-boy singer boyfriend Pete Doherty. The salacious newspaper pictures had prompted a number of high-profile fashion clients, including Burberry, Chanel and H&M, to drop the then thirty-two-year-old from some of their campaigns.

When news came that Calvin Klein had signed up Jamie and Kate as the faces of their new jeans collection, the supermodel and mum-of-one was waiting to see if the Crown Prosecution Service had enough evidence to charge her with drug abuse. However, Calvin Klein campaign creative director Fabien Baron was adamant that they had made the right choice in their casting. ‘Kate and Calvin Klein have a long history together and it felt natural to reunite them for this new Jeans campaign,’ he said in a statement. As it turned out, Kate wasn’t prosecuted due to lack of evidence and her multimillion-pound modelling career was back on track.

The photo shoot itself was incredible and, despite the size of the campaign in terms of coverage and the extraordinary fees handed to both Jamie and Kate, it took just two short days to shoot. Working alongside Kate, Jamie got an enviable insight into what life was like for one of the world’s biggest supermodels. In the raunchy black-and-white shots, the good-looking pair posed in a variety of sensual poses, both topless and in dark jeans.

Many had the co-stars down as best pals – and even lovers – after working together, but Jamie was quick to admit that despite appearing together on billboards across the world, they literally spent just a handful of hours in each other’s company.

It turned out to be an unforgettable experience for Jamie; as well as starring opposite Kate, he got to work with well-respected fashion photographers Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott. Known as ‘Mert and Marcus’, the pair were famous for their portraits of sophisticated, powerful women – including Madonna, Jennifer Lopez, Victoria Beckham and Lady Gaga – as well as for their work for magazines and fashion labels. ‘The difference between us and other photographers is that we care a lot about appearance,’ Alas explained. ‘We spend most of the time in the make-up and hairstyling rooms.’

And this high profile ad was no exception. Jamie was seriously pampered and preened for the shoot hosted at Jack Studios in New York. ‘As well as the usual hair and face make-up’, Jamie said, ‘what I do remember about the Calvin Klein ads was a lot of people running me down with dark, oily tanning stuff, I mean, I’m a white Irish guy, it was a problem.’

Once in the studio, Jamie’s co-star was charming and the pair got on brilliantly. Barriers had to be broken down immediately, with Kate wrapping her legs round Jamie’s waist and pressing her naked torso up against his back for the erotic shots. ‘She was really a lovely person – very nice and more shy than you’d expect,’ he said. ‘But when you’re working with someone who is top of their profession it’s a real thrill.’

Although Jamie wasn’t normally intimidated when working opposite a big name, he couldn’t help but feel that she was in a completely different league. Jamie certainly didn’t see himself on equal footing with his famous co-star. ‘She’s an amazing model and an amazing person. Even watching her work is incredible.
I’ve been mucking around doing this for seven years, she’s been doing it for eighteen and she’s still top of the game,’ Jamie gushed some years later. ‘It’s a nice compliment but I don’t reckon we’re on the same playing field,’ he commented on his nickname ‘the male Kate Moss’.

The campaign was an immediate hit with the fashion house and, once officially launched, it did more than just sell clothes. Jamie was plunged into the centre of religious controversy when it hit America. A huge billboard of the CK advert with a topless Kate grabbing a bare-chested Jamie had been erected outside a mosque. Devout Muslims were reportedly outraged by the image which confronted them every time they went in or out of their place of worship and the press had a field day. ‘It’s only a matter of time before action is taken. Someone will find a way to cover them up,’ one disgusted neighbour told a newspaper. ‘Jamie and Kate’s CK ad upsets hundreds of muslims,’ another headline screamed, while website
animalnewyork.com
sniped, ‘We are dying to see what a hastily spray painted burqa looks like on the young coke-sniffing crusader.’

Kate and her boyfriend Pete Doherty had been no strangers to controversy since the start of their relationship twelve months before, and Jamie soon became mixed up in gossip involving the couple, as rumours started to emerge that she had dumped the pop star for the Irish model. Jamie was adamant there was no chemistry between them, pointing out that they’d spent less than a week with each other – and that was at work. They had certainly never ‘enjoyed a string of secret dates’. ‘I’m not cool enough for Kate,’ he told the
Sunday Mirror
newspaper. ‘I’ve met
her several times and she’s really sweet but I somehow don’t think I’m rock star enough.’

Although Jamie dismissed the gossip as ridiculous, his friends didn’t think that such a pairing was out of the question and begged him for the inside track on his secret romance. ‘My friends ring up asking why I didn’t tell them I was going out with Kate Moss?’ he said incredulously. ‘And I’m like, “I’m not! I worked with her for half a day that’s it.”

‘I honestly don’t do love affairs. That’s the most embarrassing thing about the whole situation, I never pull.’

While Jamie remained resolutely single, business was good – even though modelling was his bread-and-butter and music was where his heart was. ‘It’s a great business for now, a great way to make money and have a laugh,’ Jamie said soon after the Calvin Klein advert. ‘Who knows what’s next? I put a lot of what’s happened so far to luck and right place, right time.’

However, it was more than just his pretty face that was landing him the contracts; he also had a burgeoning fan base. Jamie’s almost naked body was adorning buses, glossy mags and girls’ bedroom walls worldwide. Whole websites and pages on the internet were cropping up devoted to the ‘Golden Torso’, as he was dubbed by the
New York Times
in an article which profiled his up-and-coming
Marie Antoinette
role.

Jamie was also mentioned in a book entitled
Supermodels: 21st Century Lives
, in which he was just one of nine legendary models to be listed alongside Twiggy, Kate Moss, Erin O’Connor and the first-ever male supermodel Marcus Schenkenberg, who reached the peak of his fame in the early 1990s. ‘A bit of a pretty
boy, Jamie’s clean cut and athletic and likes to keep in shape playing rugby. Jamie’s not just good looking – he has plenty of Irish charm too,’ the book raved.

‘I question why all of this has happened to me,’ Jamie said at the time, ‘I don’t see myself as particularly good-looking. I could never have predicted it at all in a million years.’ But the public couldn’t have been more interested in him and his rippling abs, which even he admitted was rare for a male model. ‘You can’t take this industry seriously, especially if you are a guy,’ he declared. ‘This is definitely a girls’ industry. It all seems quite strange to me.’

In fact, devoted Dornan followers seemed just as interested in swooning at photos of his body as in learning about the most seemingly boring minutiae of his everyday life. ‘My daily routine is a ten-minute shower, a cup of coffee and then I go. I use Aveda Brilliant Shampoo and Dove soap in the shower,’ Jamie confided to the
Evening Standard
. As a testament to his down-to-earth nature, he also revealed in the feature that he couldn’t leave the house without an iPod and that he kept fit by ‘walking a lot. I try to walk everywhere in London and New York and I play Frisbee in the park.’

It must have seemed extraordinary to his friends and family that unassuming Jamie had become such a public fascination. Some of his schoolmates could hardly believe the escalation in his fame and regularly ribbed him by text message or called him on his phone to let him know that they’d spotted him in various sexy poses in magazines, billboards or at their bus stop.

During one interview with a British newspaper, Jamie stopped
chatting to the journalist to answer a call from his flatmate who was in stitches after seeing posters of Jamie in his pants for Calvin Klein jeans. It all served to keep the millionaire model grounded. ‘He was just laughing,’ he explained. ‘That’s good I need to have that. Some people, they really want all this,’ he said of his fame-inducing modelling career.

His family, meanwhile, remained shocked and delighted in equal measure. For Jamie’s father, seeing his son’s continued success and surprise appearances in the press and on billboards must have come as a welcome distraction from his own problems and cancer diagnosis. ‘I think they’re proud, at least I hope they’re proud. I think they’re bemused at my modelling, as am I, that it happened and it’s continued to happen for quite a while,’ Jamie said of his father and stepmother’s reaction to his recent success. ‘I think they’re happy, none of their friends’ sons are doing this so I think it’s quite a weird thing for them to talk about. It’s a complete dinner party novelty.’

It was also reassuring to see that Jamie hadn’t changed a bit. It wasn’t so much that he couldn’t believe his good fortune anymore – instead, there was secretly a part of him that didn’t want to be there. There was an untapped world outside modelling that was his for the taking, if only he could land himself another acting job. That, however, was one area of his life which seemed nothing short of a disaster. Jamie was the first to admit that his good looks and rippling muscles landed him the part in
Marie Antoinette
; his challenge was to get directors to take him seriously as an actor rather than just as something nice to look at.

It was proving extremely difficult. Amongst the castings for modelling assignments, Jamie was being put forward for TV and film roles by his agent, but he rarely got past the first round. ‘I literally went to hundreds of auditions. I’d been auditioning for parts for years. I never got any better at it. I’m crap at auditions. I know there are people who can walk into those rooms and make those lines sing on the page and get the job immediately. I wasn’t one of them. I’m still not one of them,’ he said some years later.