The first thing about Tammy Hembrow that surprises me is that she’s nervous. She doesn't usually do interviews. In preparing to finally sit down with her forNo Filter,I went looking for other interviews she'd done. Barely any. So even though she spends a good chunk of her life in front of a camera creating her own content, she's always the one in control of it. She prefers it that way.

Ninety minutes later, when the interview is over and we stand together for a photo, Tammy immediately positions herself to my left after asking if that’s OK. "This is my good side," she explains in a way that's neither self-conscious nor diva.

The woman knows her angles. As I fling my arm around her waist, silently wondering if I have a good side, I notice she's still shaking.

The second surprising thing about Tammy Hembrow is that she arrives for our interview alone. I'm always interested to see who famous people bring with them when they come into theMamamiaoffice. Entourages range in size. If they’re promoting a TV show, an album or a book, it will usually be a single publicist. If they're a big star, they will usually bring a make-up artist and maybe a hair stylist with them for touch-ups. And if they're a famous businesswoman like Trinny Woodall, Pip Edwards or Camilla Franks, they might also bring their own publicist plus their own social media person to capture behind-the-scenes footage. Running a personal brand in the age of social media means you have to feed the beast with content about yourself. Incessantly. Tammy Hembrow is all of those things and so I expected her to come with at least a medium-sized entourage. A manager. A publicist. A makeup artist. Maybe an assistant.

On the morning of our interview, I was running late and thankfully, so was she. Her 6am flight from the Gold Coast had been delayed, but she still managed to arrive before me and I almost stumbled over her sitting quietly in the lobby on my way up to the office. The publicist from the book publisher arrived at the same time I did, introductions were made and Tammy tried to discreetly ask if she'd have time to change before the interview because she'd spilled coffee all down the singlet top she was wearing under her pale blue shirt. I expected her to have celebrity swagger, but she was clearly embarrassed and a bit flustered in a way I recognise. I spill things a lot too.

Oh, one more thing surprised me. Tammy Hembrow is tiny in that unexpected way famous people often are. She is far smaller than she appears in her photos and there was no sign visible sign of her famous curves. Later, she would tell me she doesn't post photos of her bottom so much anymore and that she didn't know why people make a big deal of it. A few days after our interview, she posted photos of herself in a tiny g-string bikini to promote one of her workout programs called the 6 Week Curve Builder.

At first, I honestly thought this was a story about a bottom. Tammy Hembrow has a spectacular bottom according to current beauty standards and for the past decade as a content creator, influencer and entrepreneur, she has posted thousands of photos and videos featuring it prominently in exercise gear, in evening gowns, in lingerie and in swimsuits.

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