Leading Lady

She may once have been known for her appearances on Bangkok’s high-society party circuit, but these days NAPHAPORN “LEK” BODIRATNANGKURA is living up to her fabled family name by building on a century-old legacy. Diana Hubbell meets the former party-girl-turned-business-mogul

Sunlight pours through the immense windows of Lady L Garden Bistro at Nai Lert Park Heritage Home, a verdant oasis tucked behind Chidlom’s cluster of upscale shopping centres. It’s early, but Lek Bodiratnangkura is already seated at her favourite perch on the marble counter directly below a framed oil painting of her grandmother, Thanpuying Lursakdi Sampatisiri. From this vantage point, she has an unimpeded view of everything that goes on – and she misses nothing.

Although she’s been photographed on red carpets rocking plunging necklines and couture frocks by any designer worth knowing, today she’s the picture of understated elegance in a crisp, steel grey suit paired with stilettos. She flashes a smile as I enter, before ordering us a set of pillowy scones with jam from the Royal family of Bhutan.

“Much of what you’ve heard about me is bullshit,” she says before I can so much as ask a question. I’ve seen her photogenic features splashed across magazine pages, but still images somehow fail to capture the luminous quality of her skin and the piercing, magnetic pull of her gaze. Her presence would be intimidating, were it not for a glint in her eye that suggests she doesn’t take herself too seriously. With a breezy laugh, she brushes off some of the more outlandish rumours floating about – whatever they may be. “I’m done with bullshit. I say whatever I think.”

Being born into fame and fortune has meant that Lek has spent 36 years living in the spotlight. Once dubbed the Paris Hilton of Thailand due to her fabulous inheritance and formidable beauty, she was omnipresent at the most exclusive events in the upper echelons of Bangkok society for the better part of a decade. Her lavish wedding in 2012 to Korn Narongdej – and subsequent divorce, a year later – were the source of endless tabloid speculation and public scrutiny.