Up Close & Personal: Pualei Millare

On a recent vacation to Hawaii, I realized a few valuable things during my stay. Everybody goes off about how beautiful the scenery is and every word said is totally true. One thing that I noticed is the warm ambiance that comes from the locals. Wherever you go, there is friendliness shown throughout the islands. To experience Hawaii you have to open yourself not only to the beauty seen through the eye, but also the beauty felt in the air. This ambient beauty was even more apparent when I returned to the mainland, leaving the "warm welcome" feeling and diving back into the "same shit, different smell" routine. It wasn't until I met this month's Tuner model, Pua Millare, that I returned to that "warm welcome" feeling again. Pua's homeland is Hawaii, and her personality bleeds with friendliness. This Hawaiian native captured Tuner stardom through her physical beauty, but the following interview shows the inner beauty and the wild woman inside.

2NR: When did you start in the modeling business?

PM: I did a commercial for Sears and a few other things like magazine ads and clothing catalogs. I also did a lot of pageants when I was younger and in high school. My mom was always entering me in things like commercial castings and beauty pageants when I was little.

2NR: You have quite a bit of experience in modeling. Is there a shoot that you could remember like it was yesterday?

PM: Oh man, when I was younger I was doing a bikini shoot in this pasture in Hawaii. We really had to trek through this pasture over this fence just to get to the location. Well, when we were all done the sun was setting and it was getting dark. As we were walking back towards the car, I kept hearing heavy breathing, so I turned around and there was a bull getting ready to run us down. We dropped all the equipment and ran up this tree and it (the bull) waited there forever. Eventually somebody came by and waved their surfboard at it and it ran. That was a pretty scary shoot! The photo location ended up being a bull pasture.

2NR: So is that how you learned to do the Baywatch lifeguard run in a bikini? I can see how that would be a memorable shoot.

PM: I just recently did a Playboy shoot, too. This is the first time I've ever shot with them but I think the issue comes out after this magazine.

2NR: Cool, we get to see naked Pua pictures! Which Playboy magazine and how did Mom feel about that?

PM: I think it's called Wet & Wild. My mom was uncomfortable about it at first, but she understands it's classier than some of the other magazines out there. The only reason I wanted to do it was cause it's not real dirty.

2NR: What did your boyfriend say? Or is there a man in your life?

PM: No, nobody yet.

2NR: Too many bad experiences with bad hygiene and liars huh?

PM: I cannot stand liars! In the past, I would tell a guy to look into my eyes and say, "Are you telling me the truth or are you lying?" And they would say, "I love you, I would never lie to you!" Those are strong words to say, so if they are lying that really hurts and, believe me, the majority of the times I have asked this I find out they really were lying and that really hurts me, yet makes me mad at the same time. It hurts more than it makes me mad.

2NR: That's good you're not jumping into relationships now. At least you have modeling and surfing to keep you busy. So, do you short board or long board?

PM: I long board. I've been doing it for a little bit. The surf is actually really big right now in Hawaii. The only reason I know this is because all my friends aren't home and when that happens that means the surf is big. In Hawaii they don't have signs that say, "Out to lunch," they say, "Out surfing." I live on the east shore by Sandies, and that's where I usually lay out.

2NR: Naked!?

PM: No, but the water is warm enough to go skinny-dipping any time of the year.

2NR: Is that a normal thing for you?

PM: No, I was just kidding.

2NR: Oh... so was I. Has designing clothes been a passion of yours for some time?

PM: I love designing my own clothing. If I ever buy clothes, I always end up tearing them up and redesigning them. My friends always ask me where I buy my stuff, but a majority of the time it never looks the same by the time I'm done with it.

2NR: So did you go to the ASR show in San Diego? (ASR is the Tokyo Auto Salon of action sports clothing.)

PM: I got a lot ideas out of that show. I saw a lot of things there that I thought, in my eyes, I could do much better. Right now, I love the ripped-up look. I think about stuff like ripping up a wife beater tank top.

2NR: I'm trying to picture you in a ripped up wife beater, but I imagine your boobs falling out of it!

PM: How about ripped and wet!? (giggles)

2NR: Oh man! Let me know when you have your fashion show. Just kidding. So how did the "Baywatch" thing come about?

PM: I got really lucky. I was living on another Island at the time, but I had to fly to Oahu for a photo shoot on the beach on the North Shore, and it just so happens that the director was at the beach and saw my photo shoot going on. He came up to me and said he wanted me to be on his show, and it was "Baywatch Hawaii." I did it and I became a main extra for six months. I was a lifeguard, a bikini extra, and a few other things on there. I got a lot of experience out of it, made a lot of friends and contacts. They're supposed to do another "Baywatch" that I might be in, but from what I heard, it's going to be a movie.

2NR: I've heard that you have become good friends with Sasha Singleton.

PM: Yeah, I met her through a few friends of mine in San Diego. She's a really cool girl to hang out with. We have a little local spot that our friends from Hawaii meet up at in SD called Da Kine.

2NR: Oh yeah, I know that place! I was raised down there. I remember the owner, Dave. Do you go to the one in Pacific Beach or National City?

PM: The one in Pacific Beach. Yeah, a lot of the locals get together and go there. The food is pretty close to the real thing, considering Hawaii is an ocean away. The best thing there is dessert. They make the best Guava Shefon cake. It is to die for! It just melts in your mouth.

2NR: Actually, in Pigeon (native Hawaiian talk) that would be said as, "broke yo mouth!" Now for my last question - real or fake?

PM: Real. So is my ass. I get that question asked more about my butt than my boobs. People always ask if I had butt implants. I'm like, "No!" I heard something about how it costs $20,000 and I don't have that kinda money to waste on a butt implant.

2NR: Next time somebody asks, just say, "Nope, these are real, took years of eating hamburgers." For the record, your ass does look very slappable.

PM: Thanks!