Wild At Hart

She’s a yogi with a penchant for matcha, but model Ashley Hart knows true wellness lies way deeper

- Alex Davies

As I go in for a nice-to-meet-you cheek kiss, Ashley Hart bundles me in for a proper hug. Wearing jeans and a Rolling Stones tee, she apologises for having a cold (“Especially when we’re talking about wellness!”) as we queue up at a Sydney cafe for lunch (frittata with salad) ahead of this photoshoot. It’s no surprise she’s feeling crook (not that you’d know it from the energy in these shots, right?). The 30-year-old flew in from LA, her home of five years, a few days earlier for a line-up of shoots and events. Along with her sister, Jess Hart, Ashley is synonymous with the Aussie modelling industry, working for brands including Swisse and Bras N Things, as well as presenting on travel TV show Helloworld. A yogi and self-confessed “spiritual junkie”, she’s the first to admit that the past few years have given her plenty of “juice” – a divorce plus a change in career path – to grow from. But, as she reveals when we settle down to chat, que sera, sera, because her next chapter looks pretty damn exciting.

With this being our annual Wellness Issue, what does ‘wellness’ really mean to you?

I look at it so holistically. I think, at our core essence of who and what we truly are, we are wellness. We are ultimate perfection, beauty, pure happiness, bliss and all of those things. So, I think the most important thing to live a life of wellness is to be connected to our most natural self. And it’s not so much about the things we need to be well, but more [about] eliminating the gunk to realise [who] we truly are at our core.

And it’s about always coming back to that?