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Outlook: I became a supermodel overnight and didn't know

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Black and white image of Lisa Ray. She is wearing a white vest and modelling to the camera

28/04/2021 GMT

I became a supermodel overnight and didn't know

BBC World Service - Outlook, I became a supermodel overnight and didn't know

As a teenager, Lisa Ray took some photos in India that made her an instant sensation

Lisa Ray found overnight fame as a model in India and went on to become an actor. But a cancer diagnosis at 37 would change everything.

Lisa Ray was just a teenager when she fell in love with the glamour of 1990s Mumbai. She was dipping her toe into modelling when a serious car crash at home in Canada left her mother paralysed and her tight-knit family reeling. Lisa fled back to Mumbai where an image of her, famously in a red swimsuit, had made her an overnight sensation. Although she was fighting an eating disorder, Lisa immersed herself in the party scene. Meanwhile, Bollywood was calling. She struggled with the dancing, the costumes and the lines – but she loved acting and later starred in independent films, including the Oscar nominated film Water. In 2009, at 37, she was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer and faced gruelling treatment, but she was determined to walk the red carpet again. Lisa has written a book about her life called Close to the Bone.

Humberto Restrepo from Medellin in Colombia is a locksmith by day, but outside his working hours he plays Cupid by writing love letters for other couples. As Outlook's Clayton Conn found out, Humberto has saved many relationships in trouble. This report was first broadcast on 13th November 2018.

Get in touch: outlook@bbc.com

Picture: Lisa Ray
Credit: Rohan Shrestha

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