The former Sport’s Illustrated swimwear model says COVID took its toll on her in the US city where hundreds of people were dying daily and hospitals were forced to turn patients away unable cope with the pandemic.“It was a heavy year. Having that fear lingering over you for so long, it’s quite heavy. You don’t realise what you’ve been through and then you kind of come out of it and go ‘Oh wow’,” Gomes says.“It’s just a different kind of vibe. In LA everyone was really worried and not working, scraping kind of the barrels, and going ‘Oh god, what’s happening?’. There was a lot of uncertainty and fear.“You just take it day by day and kind of put one foot in front of the other.”Gomes says she’s grateful to be Australian and to have had the opportunity to return home in December to family and friends.“Things were just kind of getting really bad in Los Angeles. Towards the end of the second lockdown is when I decided to come (home),” she says.“I just felt really unsafe in LA, and I wanted to be home and basically see my loved ones. Obviously it’s a very different situation here in Australia, and different environment, and I’m really happy that I’m back and it’s great that things are open and people are working and being productive.“I feel very lucky that I’m Australian and that I can come home. I’m really happy to be back and just having a breather.”Gomes grew up in Perth to a Singaporean Chinese mother and Portuguese father. Her unique and exotic look helped propel her onto the international modelling stage, as well as achieve local success, most notably as the face of David Jones for six years.She has made regular trips home over the past decade for work and to see family but was not expecting to return to live so soon.“I definitely would totally be still in LA (if not for COVID). My parents are so relieved, they’re so happy, they were so worried about me over there.”The brunette beauty says it wasn’t only fear but the closure of businesses and productions that contributed to her decision to relocate.“It was pretty dead to be honest, because obviously all of the productions and things had slimmed down. Hollywood had shut down, everything just kind of stopped,” Gomes says.“It definitely was an intense time. And obviously COVID was just really rearing its head over there, and it was actually really sad.“All these people that I know that lost their businesses, restaurants shutting down and iconic places in Los Angeles that I love and I’ve been going to for so long closing down. It just felt like a different LA, and I’ve been there for 10 years, so just the heartbeat of it felt gone.”Gomes says many of her “Hollywood” friends have come to Australia where big movie franchises such as Marvel and large-scale productions are opting to shoot.“It feels like Hollywood is in Australia right now. It definitely feels very plugged in and I really hope Australia embraces that. I think it’s a good thing.“I think it’s great that everyone wants to shoot in Australia and live here and be here, we have such a beautiful country.”Gomes says the COVID lockdowns in LA gave her much-needed time to reassess her life and to follow passions she’d never had time to explore.“I wasn’t as busy as I usually am, flying around everywhere, shooting. That was the first time to be honest that I actually have been in the same place for more than six months in 15 or 20 years. So it was really nice to stop and just do fun things like hobbies. I was painting a lot, I was reading a lot. I was just hanging out and creating a community, so that was great,” she says.A greater appreciation for the simpler things in life is also one of the key things Gomes is hoping to take away from her experiences last year. “I think for a lot of people it simplified a lot of things. What really matters, you know, your health, friends, family, the simple things. And I think a lot of my friends, and a lot of people, are wanting to live a more simple life.“I think a lot of people are deciding what it is they want and we’ve also realised we don’t maybe need to be living in the city. I think we’ve all just readjusted to the storm of events in the best way that we can, maybe that’s a good thing.”As soon as Gomes was freed from hotel quarantine in December she flew to Byron Bay to see family and friends, but is based in Sydney now working on “private” projects.“I can’t say, it’s all private. But yes, I’m working on some productions. But I’m not allowed to say yet, sorry trust me, I can’t wait to talk about it,” she says.“I feel really lucky and I feel like definitely coming back, I’m in the right space, and it’s just wonderful again that everyone’s shooting.”The 36-year-old is also excited to be jetting into Melbourne today as a special guest for Super Saturday races at Flemington, the biggest race day for the VRC outside of the Melbourne Cup Carnival. A crowd of more than 12,000 is expected, with State Government approval for up to 15,000. Super Saturday last year was the last race day at Flemington with crowds before the pandemic hit.“It’s great that I’m actually going to my first event in over a year. It’s great that we can go out and socialise and connect with people and I think that’s one thing that I’ve missed, definitely, is being social and going to events and seeing people and dressing up and having fun. I think we definitely took that a little bit for granted before COVID,” she says. No stranger to posing with racehorses in the lead up to big events, Gomes got acquainted with Group 1 winner and Living Legend resident Redkirk Warrior ahead of today’s big day of racing.Redkirk Warrior, which won the Group 1 Seppelt Wines Newmarket Handicap (1200m) on Super Saturday twice, in 2017 and 2018, will attend Super Saturday alongside fellow Living Legend Zipping, who won the Australian Cup in 2010.“He was actually one of the best horses I’ve posed with, he was definitely being very photogenic. I love horses so much and it was so great to meet him.”Tickets to Super Saturday at Flemington Racecourse are available at the gate or via Ticketek.
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