ABOVE: Jumper, £45, Roksanda Ilincic for Debenhams Editions (debenhams.com); trousers, £295, All Saints (allsaints.com); shoes, £49.99, Zara (zara.com)

Lingerie may have opened doors for Rosie, and sales suggest it’s about to make her a fortune – her range is M&S’s fastest-selling. But it was Burberry Prorsum that first put her on the world stage when Christopher Bailey cast her in the fashion house’s autumn 2008 campaign. Catwalk shows for Prada and Giles Deacon, a Vogue cover and even an entire book dedicated to her (Rankin’s Ten Times Rosie) followed. It seemed Rosie couldn’t put a foot wrong.

I’ve been so lucky and worked with fantastic clients and fantastic brands. But when I look at pictures of me when I was 16, I think, ‘What was I thinking?’ Not that it works every time nowadays either, believe me.”

Having just watched two hours of effortless modelling with every picture pretty much perfect – again – I think Rosie might be lying.

“Honestly! It’s usually when you haven’t loved it at the beginning then a bunch of people try to tell you it’s right. You should always trust your gut.”

Annoyingly, while most of us may agonise over everything from what to have for lunch to what that promotion will mean long-term, it seems modern singers/actresses/models will never admit to anything as mortally dull as forward planning.

“I just think I’m on this planet to learn and evolve,” says Rosie. “I feel really lucky that I’ve had these opportunities. It’s always funny when people say ‘What do you want to do?’ and I say, ‘I don’t know. I’m just doing things!’ I honestly don’t know where I’ll be in 10 years’ time.

“I just take every day as it comes. You have to try and make the best out of every situation you’re in; try to go for the gold, right?”

For someone who has got used to baring her body on lingerie shoots, Rosie is clearly not as comfortable baring her soul. Previous interviews have revealed not much more than the fact she wore braces to her first few castings. And although we touch upon several potentially revealing subjects during our chat – spirituality, her fears – they are politely stopped in their tracks with, "I don’t like to talk about that because it’s private."

Perhaps it’s the Hollywood effect. Rosie’s career is about to go stellar. Her first screen role was Megan Fox’s replacement as the love interest in the third part of the Transformers franchise, Dark Side Of The Moon. Despite some harsh reviews (she wasn’t singled out – lead actor Shia LaBeouf also got a hard time), one critic likened her to ‘early Cameron Diaz’, and Rosie doesn’t seem fazed by her new role in Mad Max either.

“It’s looking like it is going to be a really exciting journey for me,” she says. “I think it’ll be a fantastic film. I can’t talk too much about [my role]. But I’m really excited. It’s been a really fun project so far.”

Personally, things are going swimmingly too. She recently bought her first home in LA with action star Jason Statham, who she met in 2010. When she’s not travelling – which, as it turns out, is “all the time” – she’s enjoying the West Coast weather and settling into what she tells me is her dream house.

“It feels full of happiness and love and there’s a good spirit in it,” she explains. “That’s definitely something we felt when we walked in it. It’s just really good to have the energy. It’s cosy and feels like it was full of love and laughter. I know a little bit of the history. I feel grounded in that home.”

Staying grounded is clearly something that’s important to Rosie, and the only time she seems truly ‘normal’ to me is when she starts to talk about Devon.

Rosie Huntington-Whiteley: a life less ordinary