She was the "geeky girl" with the big glasses at her South Auckland high school.
But now, Chloe Conrad is splashed across tabloid headlines worldwide, as the glamour model whose one-night stand with cricketer Shane Warne has infuriated Liz Hurley.
"Glamour model" is the oddly British euphemism for women who strip off for the porn magazines - but yesterday 26-year-old Conrad gave a candid interview to the Herald on Sunday to warn other young Kiwi girls not to follow her into the "sleazy" industry.
Hurley, 45, stalked out of Warne's $13 million Melbourne mansion and flew home to London less than 24 hours after Conrad publicly disclosed her fling with the cricketer.
"Shameless Shane Warne bedded a porn star and bombarded her with sex texts behind the back of girlfriend Elizabeth Hurley," shouted the Sunday Mirror front page.
Conrad has refused to speak to other media without payment - but she was determined to get her message out to New Zealanders despite this newspaper's refusal to pay for interviews.
The model was born in Australia to New Zealand parents, who moved home to Auckland soon afterwards. She grew up here, spending much of her teenage years sleeping on her grandparents' couch in Drury and attending Rosehill College.
When she was a little girl, Conrad said, she wanted to be a school teacher. As she grew up, her aspirations changed: journalist, photographer, fashion model ...
"I don't think we had a careers adviser," she said yesterday. "I went to a big high school and you don't have that sort of relationship with teachers.
"I had the biggest, ugliest glasses - oh God. I was teased from here to Africa about it. I was not one of the cool kids."
Erica Smith was a close friend at school, and remembers those days: "I was surprised how different she looks now," Smith said. "She never had boyfriends or anything at high school. She wasn't really pretty - but she wasn't butt-ugly or anything."
Conrad was 16 and never been kissed, when things changed: "I got contact lenses and boobs."
At age 18, she began stripping at The Mermaid club in downtown Auckland. At 21, she got into "glamour shoots" when she did two shoots for NZX, a magazine published by Auckland porn magnate Steve Crow.
She doesn't like to talk about the thoughts that went through her head being photographed naked by strangers.
With the porn industry comes cosmetic surgery - Conrad has had breast implants and a nose job that "hurt like a bitch".
After leaving New Zealand, she says, she spent one year as a full-time porn actress - but has quit the industry. She has spent time teaching at a school in Nepal, and now plans to move to Melbourne and study economics and Mandarin at university.
"I could probably look back and say, 'I wish I didn't do it' - but it's done ... You live and learn, don't you?
"It was horrible money. The porn industry is not an industry you will make a profit on."
Most of her friends and family back in New Zealand didn't know about her new life.
"I just feel really bad ... because they didn't know I did porn until this Shane thing. It's not the nicest way for them to find out."
Her father knew everything, "but I don't think there's anything to be proud of" she said.
"I don't think people should aspire to this ... I just don't want people reading this to think that what I did was acceptable in any way and that they should follow in my footsteps."
Conrad was not the only bruised partner in the love triangle to express her regrets - Hurley offered a warning, too.
As she prepared to fly home to Heathrow on Monday, Hurley posted a message on Twitter: "Happy Valentine's Day! Remember, love is like a rollercoaster ride - sometimes it's exhilarating but sometimes u feel sick and want to get off."
Regret of Warne's porn star
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