David Gandy talks to Cosmopolitan South Africa (June 2013)

Only very lucky women can say they’ve been in bed with one of the most gorgeous man on earth, and even more so when it turns out he enjoys a good whisky, detests animal cruelty and knows his way around a kitchen.

I’m one of them, and the man is David Gandy, one of the world’s most successful male models, according to Forbes. He hit the big time, literally, when a 15m billboard version of him wearing nothing but white Dolce & Gabbana briefs towered over New York’s Times Square. 

So maybe I’m stretching the truth a little. Maybe I didn’t really share David’s bed. Maybe I was on my bed, and he in a hotel in Milan, where he was promoting the new campaign for the Dolce & Gabbana fragrance Light Blue alongside Italian beauty Bianca Balti. And maybe we were chatting on the phone. But it certainly felt as though he were next to me, thanks to his disarming charm.

The best part: David doesn’t come across ‘model-ish’ at all. In fact, he didn’t even set out to get into the game, and when his housemate secretly entered him into a modelling contest and he won, he thought he’d been pranked. Read on for more about this perfect English gentleman…

I was bullied quite badly at school and didn’t come out of my shell until much later. I didn’t feel like I fitted in. I was quite solitary and independent.

Well, yes. Everyone thinks if you’re in the limelight you enjoy it, but I’ve often kept to myself. I think more people should be more solitary. We live in a world where everyone wants attention and I don’t really like being the centre of attention. I do what I have to do for my job but I keep my private life private.

I don’t even think people to find me that attractive. I’m still sort of that shy guy who doesn’t think that. Not everyone finds me attractive, just like I don’t find everyone attractive.

It’s a little bit ridiculous, to be honest. Besides, it changes every year. One year it’s George Clooney and the next, Bradley Cooper. You can’t take that short of thing to heart.

It’s best not to take it too seriously. Some people know David Gandy, the guy from Essex, and others know David Gandy, the brand. When you’re in the fashion business, people have stereotypical views of you. They think they know you but they really don’t.

I think I’m a lot less serious than most people think. I could meet the most beautiful girl in the world, but with no sense of humour, we couldn’t get along.

Cruelty to animals. I’ll never really understand it. Criticism. I don’t mind criticism when it’s justified – but if you do something positive people don’t talk about you, yet as soon as something bad turns up, it’s on Twitter.

Everyone’s vulnerable. Everyone’s on Twitter and Facebook saying, “I’m in this restaurant and hotel’ but claiming their privacy is being taken away. They have themselves to blame.

I eat a bit of chocolate every day. Organic chocolate. And I’m an English guy – I still love my booze.

Alcoholic I can talk about, but non-alcoholic? I have a contract with Johnnie Walker; I’m a big whisky drinker. But well, I drink plenty of tea. I also don’t think I could give up coffee. I almost don’t want to say how many cups a day … six or seven.

I don’t think I’m health-conscious. I cook a lot. I cook good stuff. It’s important she eats well and enjoys her food, because food is my passion.

Winston Churchill, Paul Newman and JFK

Goodness. My speciality… I cook a lot of Asian food and I do a good risotto. I think those guys might like a good steak, with red wine, of course. I know Winston wouldn’t have minded a sherry!.