[ www.nataliefans.com ]

With her bikini-clad curves and saucer-wide eyes, Natalie Imbruglia would give any Bond girl a run for her money.

But when Natalie plays the spy game, she plays it for laughs - as her role in the new Bond spoof Johnny English proves.

The Aussie singer had a ball as the love interest of comic actor Rowan Atkinson, who stars as the inept trainee agent of the title.

Natalie was more than ready for a little light relief. Despite being one of the stunning faces of make-up giant L'Oreal, her love life has not always been a success.

Her relationship with her own "Mr Right" Daniel Johns, 23, lead singer with the grunge band Silverchair, has been dogged by rumours of splits, reunions and more splits.

But now Natalie, 27, wants to set the record straight. The couple are engaged to be married and although they are separated by geography - Natalie in London and Daniel in Australia - they are still very much together.

"We haven't set a date but I've got the rock!" she beams, showing off a huge diamond on her left hand.

I am based everywhere and I have no intention of changing any of those bases. Ideally, it's going to be a case of Daniel and I figuring how we're going to make it work.

"We're both committed to our work but we're also really committed to each other and our relationship. It's not a major drama.

"We take each day as it comes. I know when I'm seeing him next so I focus on that. You are most at home with your loved ones and so when Daniel is with me in England, I feel at home. I'm a gypsy."

"We had a good run last year because I was in the Rumba Festival and we were together for about three months which is unheard of for us."

Yet only last year, Natalie was said to have dumped Daniel in favour of Coldplay's frontman Chris Martin - the soon-to-be Mr Gwyneth Paltrow.

But she denied the split and Daniel popped the question in December. His proposal was all the more poignant as six months previously, Daniel was virtually paralysed by arthritis. Natalie put her work on hold and dashed from London to be by his side in Australia. "He was very ill but he's so much better and doing really, really well now. she says. "He's rehearsing for his tour out there."

But although she is due to wed, the ex-Neighbours star is not ready to be a mum just yet.

"My best friend had a baby and I became a godmother and then my friend from Neighbours, Annalise Davies, had a beautiful little girl Isabella - so it was all around me," she laughs.

"But then I spent Christmas with my four-year-old niece Ella and was like: 'OK, I can wait. She is amazing and I love her to death but I'm not ready for motherhood yet... I still have too much to do'."

Dressed in a black Moschino trouser suit, she radiates a healthy glow - it's no wonder L'Oreal signed her up for £100,000 to be the face of their products.

She also appears to have put some of her troubles firmly behind her. She has been open about her bouts of depression and critics said her second album White Lilies Island was introspective and dark.

"Every time in my life I've gone through that dark place, what I've learnt has produced some of the best memories," she says.

"For anyone who is depressed, that's what you need to focus on - that it can be a turning point in your life. You can look back and think: 'Wow, I grew so much by going through that experience and it wasn't for nothing'."

But her personal happiness seems to have lifted her spirits and she is currently working on a third album which will come out later this year.

"It's coming very naturally and very easily. The last album was very hard to get out. I'm enjoying it and considering doing other people's songs. I've let a lot go, which is great. An accomplished singer-songwriter, Natalie's debut album Left Of The Middle sold six million copies and spawned the international hit Torn which propelled her from soap regular to international pop star. And since she became the new face of L'Oreal, sales have increased.

"I hope that means they keep me on. It's brilliant. I loved it when the ad first came out - I did a video tape of it and then Daniel and I watched it three times in a row and were both in stitches. I'll do it for as long as they want me to."

With her Bambi-like eyes and dark complexion, Natalie has never been short of A-list admirers. She has dated Robbie Williams, Lenny Kravitz and Friends star David Schwimmer. But she is modest about her attractiveness.

"I do believe beauty comes from within. As yet I haven't felt the need to have any kind of surgery myself and I hope I stay feeling that way and don't succumb to any pressures."

It's almost a decade since she left the part of Beth Brennan in Neighbours but now she is keen to go back to her acting roots.

She is Rowan Atkinson's love interest Special Agent Lorna Campbell in Johnny English which opens next month.

Rowan plays English, a bumbling novice spy who is drafted in at short notice to stop an evil French business magnate stealing the Crown Jewels.

Natalie follows fellow L'Oreal beauty Liz Hurley into the Bond spoof arena - Liz starred in the first Austin Powers movie with Mike Myers.

SHE says: "When I read the script, I was really interested to see if the character would be running around in a skimpy bikini - something I really didn't want to do.

"I thought it would great fun because I get to do all those things like the fight scenes and being on the motorbike, but it's not over-the-top sexy.

"I did as many of the stunts as they'd let me. I had to learn to ride a Triumph motorbike, which was a challenge. I did a fight, I did all the falls.

"They were a bit concerned but I was quite fit anyway - I do training and kick-boxing about three days a week.

"What's good about this movie is that although it's comedy, Rowan and the director Peter Howitt wanted there to be some truth to the characters. They took the time to think: 'Is this actually believable?' I think the audience connects more emotionally with the characters.

"Lorna is very serious about her job and Johnny is always messing things up and that makes him even more funny. Rowan was fantastic with me and there was lots of laughter. He wasn't even trying to make me laugh - he's just got funny bones."

She has an urge to do more acting since appearing with Rowan as well as John Malkovich who plays the French crook. "It's really made me want to do more. I had the best time. It was such a great cast. It can't be like that on every film.i

How did the experience compare to Neighbours? "You get to rehearse a lot more," she says wryly.



By Jill Foster