Media-shy model Gemma Ward has given fans a glimpse inside her life as a new mum. The 26-year-old posed for two photos with her baby girl Naia in Palm Beach, Sydney, which were then uploaded by her friend Amy Finlayson.
The first snapshot is an adorable close-up of Naia looking over her mother's shoulder. "Naia - little face of our future," Amy wrote under the picture.
The second photo shows proud Gemma cradling her tiny little girl in her arms, lovingly gazing down at her with a smile on her face.
© Photo: InstagramPHOTO TO ENLARGE
Perth-born Gemma, who gave birth in Hawaii late last year, is said to be back in Sydney visiting partner David Letts' family.
Famously private about her personal life, Gemma is yet to speak publicly about her daughter. In fact it was her brother, Oscar Ward, and her model friend Nicole Trufino, who broke the news about Naia's birth in December. "Congratulations to my beautiful incredible friend @glouisew and her man @lettsy2106 for welcoming this little angel into the world!!!!," Nicole wrote alongside a photo of Gemma breastfeeding her baby girl - the picture was later removed.
© Photo: InstagramGemma cradles little Naia during their trip in Australia
Brother Oscar, meanwhile, proudly wrote on Facebook, "I am officially an uncle. "Gemma is one of the world's most successful models and was the youngest person ever to grace to cover of Vogue.
In recent years, she has chosen to focus on her acting career, and has appeared in a number of films - she was nominated for two Best Actress awards for her role in Australian film The Black Balloon, starred in American horror film, The Strangers, and had small parts in Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides and The Great Gatsby.
© Photo: Getty ImagesGemma dated the late actor Heath Ledger
Despite her public success, Gemma shuns the spotlight, a decision spurred by the 2008 death of her then-boyfriend Heath Ledger.
The couple started dating in November 2007, and they spent Christmas together in Perth before heading back to New York, where Heath died less than one month later. "There was no one like him - and no one will ever be like him," she told the Herald Sun. "I'm just so grateful I got to meet him and get as close as I did with him. "The time we spent in Perth was incredible because we were both from Perth and it was also a time when it was beautiful in Perth and both our families were there and we met each other's families. "We were able to not be in any kind of a spotlight and not have to be meeting with people or be hounded by press or anything. We lived in a magical kind of world where we weren't intruded upon."
