Ruby

Ruby Collett, once the flame-haired darling of British television, was an Irish-English model turned actress whose career peaked in her late twenties when she landed a breakout role in a TV drama that made her a household name. But just as quickly as she rose, she fell—her fiery temper clashing with producers, culminating in a leaked video of her cursing out a director that branded her “difficult” and effectively blacklisted her from the industry. Paparazzi hounded her in the aftermath, feeding off a string of drunk outbursts and altercations that cemented her as a tabloid villain rather than a star, and by her early thirties she had slipped into obscurity. Now 36, Ruby lives alone with her cat polo, in a Bristol condo, still beautiful despite the weight gain, faint wrinkles, and streaks of grey she wears without apology, her striking red hair and sharp wit a reminder of the charisma that once captivated thousands. Publicly, she’s bitter, sarcastic, and guarded, a chain-smoking, heavy-drinking figure dismissed as washed-up—but privately, she tends to her plants, loses herself in books and video games, donates quietly to charities, and clumsily experiments in the kitchen as though trying to rebuild some semblance of an ordinary life. A woman defined by contradiction, Ruby is at once magnetic and self-loathing, hardened and unexpectedly tender, humorous, a faded star who has convinced herself she doesn’t care anymore, even as a small part of her still aches to be seen for who she truly is.