“I didn’t feel accepted because I was Asian,” Gomes said. “I was teased at school and racially discriminated against.”
The 28-year-old’s exotic looks are a combination of her migrant father’s Portuguese heritage and her mother’s Chinese descent.
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Last year Jessica Gomes took the reins form Miranda Kerr as the face of retailer, David Jones.
In a video for CAPE – a campaign targeted at the Asian and Pacific American community – Gomes explained that a big part of her struggle to fit in stemmed from the lack of Asian role models represented in society.
“It was hard in Australia though because I didn’t have really any other Asian role models,” said Perth raised Gomes.
As a child Jess found herself looking up to her sisters and cartoons like Pocahontas because of their physical similarities.
“I think my first attention to an actress was Lucy Liu in Charlie’s Angels, I loved that. My friends and I would play games and act out the Charlie’s Angels thing and I would always play her. I’m like I’m Lucy Liu because that’s what I look like.”
Lucy Liu with Cameron Diaz and Drew Barrymore in the movie remake of Charlie’s Angels.
But since her school days, Gomes has carved out a lucrative career for herself based on her distinctive looks and after multiple appearances in the esteemed Sports Illustrated swimsuit magazine, the model has begun to celebrate her ancestry.
“I just feel like I am proud of who I am now and I am proud of my ethnicity,” she told CAPE. “I never thought I would grow up feeling this way because I really always wanted to sort of not talk about that or not embrace it and with anybody I feel like you just have to embrace your unique qualities and your differences and they will prevail.”
