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After the interview is over, I need a sit down outside. A friend finds me scrabbling around on the pavement. “I’ve just had the worst interview of my life,” I say, “with Elle Macpherson of all people.” “Oh, maybe she’s upset about Arki,” she says. “He’s just got engaged to Uma Thurman.”

WHAT THE ELLE: PART 2

Turns out Elle thought it was the worst interview ever as well. She asks to do another one, but with someone else. When, in the interests of responsible journalism, we say no, she agrees to another interview with me.

This is not the first time that Elle’s love life has interfered with a magazine interview. In 2005, she and Busson agreed to a career-defining spread in Vanity Fair — children, horses, flashing smiles and icing-sugar sand — only to end their 10-year relationship just as it went to press. Everyone was gobsmacked, not only because London’s premier synthesis of looks and money had imploded, but also because they had timed it so poorly. For a long time afterwards, people said Busson was devastated and he more or less ran to ground. Elle, meanwhile, publically skipped through a couple of unlikely liaisons (the actor Ray Fearon; Julian Schnabel’s 21-year-old son, Vito), he has quietly found Uma and settled. While Elle claims that she is “in a relationship” herself, this, in fact, turns out to be with “my friends, my family! I have an incredible amount of love in my life”, she says, and refuses to be drawn further.

She is less nervy when I turn up again, and gracious in her admittance that something “weird” had gone on, but seems to think it was both our faults. Her hair is scraped off her face in a ponytail; she has no make-up on, just another little sundress and flat shoes. We go down into the kitchen where she wolfs down a plate of papaya. There is still a note of contrariness about her — she is one of those darting types who can’t sit still — but today, as she herself might put it, the energy is good. “When I feel good about myself, when I feel centred, I’m more capable in business and personal situations,” she says. Aah, so this time she’s put the right bra on. “Lingerie can engender confidence. When I was younger I used to wear stockings and suspenders under boys’ jeans. It’s a little secret.”

She is nonjudgemental to a fault: mistakes are not mistakes; they are “expanding experiences”. She says she can’t give people advice on business, “because I don’t know what works for other people. I only know what works for me. I had the courage to explore avenues that people said were impossible. When I went into the American market, people said: ‘In the American market, people like black, white and tan bras, smooth bras, and they don’t want to see any lace, as it’s not considered proper.’ And I had a product that was all lace and bright colours! They said: ‘You’re never going to make money!’ And in fact we are number one in a lot of areas in America.

“Likewise in England,” she continues, “I was told that women would only buy their underwear at Marks & Spencer at three-for-two. And that hasn’t been my experience. Women have loved what we’ve produced, which is a very European style.”

Her lingerie is for “everyone”, but it is not a high-street brand — about £70 for a set of bra and pants. She is braced for any economic downturn. “Sure,” she says. “But I had the biggest week ever in Selfridges last week, and Harrods. In a depressed economy, where we can’t afford a new dress, we can spend £100 on a new bra and knickers that can feel like a gift.”

I have a feeling this is the Elle I ought to have got first time round — direct, gutsy and engaging. She is a savvy second-guesser: “Everybody thought, ‘Oh, she’ll do swimwear’ — so I thought, ‘No! I’ll do lingerie.’ It’s much more interesting.” And she’s proud that her business largely took off when she turned 40. “Thirty to 40, I was raising my kids,” she says. “My business didn’t really start until 2003, when I brought Elle Macpherson Intimates to the UK.” She also recognises a sea change in the way women work. “Twenty years ago, a 45-year-old woman didn’t look like a 45-year-old woman does today. We’ve understood the value of health, fitness and grooming. There was a time where you had children, and that was it. You closed the kitchen door and were expected to fade. Today, women have learnt to blossom.”

It’s strange to think that in this beautiful house, with her lovely clothes and pretty children, that Elle Macpherson could ever be unhappy. She, if anyone, was and is proof that you could have it all. But maybe you can’t and, like the rest of us, she’s simply making the best of what she’s got. For all her flinty business speak, she, too, has off days. “Life happens!” she trills. And for all her best behaviour today, I’m still not sure I’d like to sit next to her at a dinner party — not least because she still won’t tell me the seven words to the meaning of life. “This is not the conversation for your readers,” she says.

Well, Elle, thanks awfully for reminding me who’s calling the shots here — again.

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