Kate isn’t lost behind the wheel

Lost star Evangeline Lilly once worked as a car mechanic and knows more about vehicles than her boyfriend Dominic Monaghan. The 27-year-old has been dating Lost co-star Monaghan for two years, and isn’t afraid to show off her automobile prowess.

She says, “I seem to date men who always know less about cars than I do. If I have a flat tyre with my boyfriend, I’m always the one to change it. There was a record for the most oil changes in one day. Within my first two months I broke it. I like men who have a little woman and a little man in there.I don’t know if that’s just because I’m a little man and a little woman. I don’t mind getting my hands greasy fixing a car or tearing down a wall. “

The Lost lovely has just topped a new list to find the 40 Hottest Stars on Yank telly, most of which we get here in the Middle East.

The actress, who plays castaway Kate on the hit desert island drama, one of the most popular English-language shows in the Gulf, beat Ali Larter (see page 14), Marg Helgenberger, Rebecca Romijn, Katherine Heigl, from Grey’s Anatomy and Desperate Housewives’ Eva Longoria to top the TV Guide poll.

Evangeline is a free spirit, for sure. We remember last year she even found the experience of having all her possessions destroyed when a fire swept through her home “really liberating and exciting”. Her Hawaiian property had burned to the ground. Despite being homeless, the optimistic actress decided the blaze, which was caused by an electrical fault, was a good thing. She told reporters: “It was a really liberating and exciting thing to happen. All that I lost were the things inside. I’ve always believed things are more of a chain than a vehicle. To not be tied down to anything was a great feeling. I was at work and I was like,
‘So I’ve got the clothes on my back, my wallet and my car and that’s everything I have in the world.’ It was like I was 20 again and the world was my oyster and I could go anywhere, do anything and be free.’’

When we were deciding to put Evangeline on the cover we met a model in Dubai who had worked with her in Canada. “How do I describe her? The most natural, down-to-earth lady. Of course she would change a tyre. She’s a real knockabout girl.”

We featured Evangeline on the cover of Men’s Style a year ago this month. We’ve been counting the days until we could do it again.