Levis, the Lodge and... a very private affair!
By Glen Williams

There are some things about himself that Home and Away star Julian McMahon keeps strictly guarded. He will talk openly about his relationship with his late father, former Australian Prime Minister Sir William McMahon, and he will speak fondly of his mother Lady (Sonia) McMahon. He will even tell you how he owes his newfound popularity to a pair of Levis jeans and the Sixties pop tune, My Girl.

But mention the love of his life, Melissa Cornell - daughter of Crocodile Dundee producer John (Strop) Cornell - and he will tell you that is private.

"Melissa and I have been together for just over a year now, " Julian says. "She moved down to Melbourne with me when I was doing The Power, The Passion. Now that I am back in Sydney for Home and Away, she has moved back with me. Things have been a bit unsettled lately as we only had two days to get everything moved back up here before I started on Home And Away. It is only now that we are beginning to realize where we are and what we are going to be doing. We are happy to be back in Sydney because we have a lot of friends up here."

Although the relationship is steady, Julian says there is no talk of marriage at this stage.

"That is a part of my life I would prefer to keep private," he says.

Julian found out he had the Home and Away role only four days before he was due to start filming. He will be seen on the air from next month playing Benito "Ben" Lucini, an athletic and studious soldier.

"It's a meaty role and the cast are giving me so much to work with," he says. "They are a generous cast and as a young actor it's wonderful to be working with them."

Although Julian has worked as a model in the US and Europe, it wasn't until he appeared in the Levis commercial - which featured him stepping off the bus and into a new pair of jeans - that he grabbed some limelight here.

The commercial became Julian's trademark and, as he says, the turning point in his career.

He switched from modeling to acting and the critics had a field day. Accusations that Julian won parts on TV only because he was a McMahon were rife, and Julian found the added pressure a bit much to cope with.

"It's very hard to step into a job when people are just dismissing you as a pretty face, and saying you got your job only because your surname is McMahon," he says.

Julian, 21, studied acting briefly at the famous Stanislovsky Drama School in Los Angeles as well as at the Keremally Acting School in Milan. He attended classes between completing modeling assignments.

Growing up as the son of an Australian Prime Minister has given Julian some cherished memories. He recalls living at The Lodge, a lunch with the Whitlams, meeting the Queen and conning the maids into sliding down the grassy slopes on pieces of cardboard at Kirribilli and the Lodge.

He talks of the famous visit to the White House where his mother made world headlines descending a staircase in a revealing dress.

Julian was overseas at the time of his father's death. "It was very upsetting news to receive over the phone," he says.

He is quick to point out he is no longer grieving the death of his father. "My father would be very upset if he knew we were still grieving," he says.